I haven’t yet put any pictures on line. Can I get some recommendations on which camera to buy/use. Approximate costs too, please. My computer is adequate but probably not state of the art. Also any helpful hints on shooting would help.
thanks, gary
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Replies
I would agree with Dave on the issue of exposure control; especially the ability to hook up a slave strobe. Once you get into taking pictures of your work you'll want to experiment with lighting to some degree. Either slave strobes or photo flood lighting. Strobes are te easiest to work with in my view.
I bought the Nikon Coolpix 800 without this consideration and I've regretted it since. Automation is OK up to a point but eventually you'll want to have more control over things.
[email protected]
I appreciate the feedback. Like you said, I guess my best source of info is a camera store. What I'm looking for is just a basic digital that I can shoot furniture pictures with and email to my buddies and Knots. No doubt after purchasing my wife and kids will want to get into the act. But again, I was looking for something real basic for now. Thanks again.
If you get the basic of the basic low end camera, figure on buying another one in a year or so! (grin) You'll outgrow the camera faster than you outgrow minimal woodworking machines, I'll bet!!
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
Gary wrote: No doubt after purchasing my wife and kids will want to get into the act.
You purchased your wife and kids, Gary? ;<)
--
Lee in Cave Junction, Oregon
On the Redwood Highway
Edited 10/24/2002 3:52:36 PM ET by Lee
Gary,
For your uses, I dont think you need a real "high end" model. You might want to look at one of the Sony's with a floppy drive. I have a FD73 and I am glad I bought it. I can take it to work and take pictures and throw the floppy into the computer there and look at them, or e-mail them or whatever. I can take pictures at a friend house, and if wants copies, we can put them on his computer without any special card readers, adapters etc. A standard floppy only holds about 20 pictures, but the portability is well worth it if you ask me.
Just my opinion !
Thanks to all for the replys. Mr Bill, you got at exactly what I am looking for. A camera to use once in awhile that uses a floppy vs. having to download all kinds of stuff in my computer. I go to this website for info. but frankly, I'l rather be in the shop than fooling around with computers.
This thread comes at a good time for me -- ever since I started sending/posting cruddy scans of even cruddier photos of otherwise decent work, I've been thinking about buying a good digital camera.
Dennis, the Coolpix cameras have come up in several posts, and you've mentioned the importance of having the option for "slave" strobes or flashes. If I were to go onto a website and start researching cameras with these options, what's the terminology that I should be looking for? In other words, does the list of features say "slave strobe" or is another phrase more commonly used... I don't know, like "secondary accessory visual brightness add-on control option" or something like that <grin>?
David (occasionally technology-deficient)Look, I made a hat -- Where there never was a hat!
I used to do professional photography (kinduva seriuos hit & miss money making hobby not to be confused with making a real living at it) years ago. Before the dawn of the digital age. Thus terminology may be dated and how it applies to current stuff may be suspect. None the less ....
Electronic camera flash equipment operates on the same principle as a strobe light. They are very high intensity, short duration flashes of light. A charge is built up in a capacitor and when discharged through the flash tube (zenon or something like that ... help me someone) the tube gives off this bright, short flash of light. The color temperature is much closer to natural white light than ordinary incandescent light bulbs so you get more accurate color rendition. Plus in low light situations, you're not depending on fast shutter speeds to freeze motion since the film (or digital media) only regiters what it sees while it's illuminated during the brief time the shutter is open.
First you have the built in flash on the camera. That's basically strobe flash itself. Then you have a secondary flash/strobe that can, if the camera has the option for plugging it in, be triggered by a wire from the camera to the flash. A "slave" strobe, as I use the term, is triggered by a little device the secondary strobe light plugs into instead of plugging into the camera. It's a light sensor that's highly sensitive. When the main strobe goes off, it triggers this sensor that fires the secondary strobe.
Seldom can you get decent lighting results using just the onboard, straight on camera flash/strobe. Thus, it's beneficial to be able to disable the onboard camera flash, wire a main strobe with a wire from the camera, then have one or as many 'slave' strobes as you need for fill light, background lighting, highlighting and whatnot. The nice thing of it is, if you have any old electronic flashes lying around from the old SLR days, and can find slave triggers they'll plug into, you can re-use them as well.
The problem with my Nikon Coolpix 800 is - there's noplace to plug in a remote strobe. Thus the only way I can trigger another strobe using the slave trigger thing is to use the on board flash. The camera doesn't like the additional light and will underexpose everything. There is no way to control the exposure with the additional illumination.
If you visit any reputable camera store dealing in digital cameras (I suspect most do these days), tell them what you want to do. You may not have considered this in the past or even now, but once you get to taking pictures of your pieces, you'll begin to understand the value of controlling the lighting in various ways.
Photo floods will work, too, tough and might be a cheaper option than buying a camera with more control options than you care to learn to use. I've used my Quartz Halogen construction flood for lighting at times with decent results. It's pretty hot so keep it away from anything that will be damaged by heat. A few cheap clip on Smith Victor floodlight reflectors with 300-500watt bulbs might be all you need, too.
Taking pictures of your work can, for me anyway, be as much fun as making them. Experiment with different lighting and see the results, That's what's so great about digital cameras: the film is really cheap!!
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
Dennis, thanks for all of the information... it's very helpful.
I'm thinking -- in terms of how much I would actually use the various "extra" control features that might come with a digital camera that also has a 'slave strobe' option, plus the higher cost of such a camera -- that your idea of using the quartz-halogen construction floods might be the way to go. I already have a set and -- if properly placed -- they might cut down on the shadowing, etc. that comes with having the single on-camera flash. I hadn't even thought of that option, and I'm glad you brought it up.
Great ideas! Thanks,
DavidLook, I made a hat -- Where there never was a hat!
The biggest problem with the current Digital cameras is the lack of very wide angle views. The lens size marked on the lens is a video rating and not a 35mm flim camera. Most standard kitchens need 18mm wide angle to include everthing. Just use your Video camera at Xmas and you can't get back far enought to include everyone.
I have a canon s30. I love it, Lots of manual control or auto. Flash and easy set up. I think i bought it online for 350ish with full USA warranty.
3.2mg pixels 10x zoom with macro capability. USB and direct print control. comes with 16mg flash card, can go up to 128 or higher. Rear screen display. Multi choice pix size resolution. nice unit. Has gotten great reviews on Computer shopper. Its probably the near bottom end of the High end point and shoots.
Im totally satisfied with the purchase. Found it online. Would let you know where i bought it, just email me. Fast Shipping, and full USA warranty, thats one thing you need to watch on camera sales anywhere.
Great - if you have the QH construction lights, go with a low end camera. Disable flash to do your lighting arrangement would be my suggestion. Whenever I've tried to use the on camera flash on mine with fill lighting from the floods, the camera only reads the flash exposure defeating the whole effort. Most frustrating at times.
If you have two floods of equal intensity, place one as the main light at x distance away, place the other 2x distance away as a shadow fill. Shadows aren't bad, they just shouldn't be inky black with no deatail. They give depth to the image.
A good fill light should probably be difused somehow. I've used plain old desk lamps with tracing vellum as a diffusing screen but you wouldn't want to do that with the QH - too hot. I'm thinking I'll pick up a sheet of that acrylic lens stuff used in suspended ceilings and make a frame for a piece big enough to difuse one of my QH's. It'll have to be mounted on some stand-offs well away from the light, too, though since these pups get really hot.
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
Excellent advice, Dennis. Thanks. I may just have to print this thread out before it gets lost in the archives.
DavidLook, I made a hat -- Where there never was a hat!
Dennis, I wanted to follow-up and show you what happened when I followed your advice (and that of a few others here, too). I purchased the Canon Powershot S40, turned off my flash and used my shop halogen lights on the front of the blanket chest along with a small halogen desk lamp pointing toward the back of the piece and the background.
Yes, the sheet is wrinkled. And yes, I still haven't mastered the intricacies of photo software and studio lighting. But I think you'll agree, things are moving in the right direction -- to make the point, I'm posting a photo that I had the nerve to scan and post in the Gallery, here on Knots, a while back. (Ugh! I'm switching rapidly between hanging my head in shame about the earlier, crappy pic, and feeling pride in my progress. Sort of like looking at old woodworking projects, huh? :-) )
DavidLook, I made a hat -- Where there never was a hat!
No need to hang your head at all! Indeed, the improvement is ... well, fantastic.
A few more thoughts -
Think about the contrast between the background and the subject. A darker blanket pehaps or stark white maybe. Use an old bed sheet (or a new one if you can sneak it out of the closet). Iron all the wrinkles out, then attach one edge to a piece of conduit or anything long enough and rigid enough to hold the weight of the sheet when the pole, or whatever, is supported on the ends. Place the pole laden sheet on a couple of uprights so there's room enough behind it to backlight the backdrop with one of your halogen lights - keeping it well away from the sheet, of course, to keep from getting it hot, but mainly to spread the light out more evenly behind the setup. Don't place it directly behind aimed into the camera but off to one side a bit like 20 degrees or so, so you can shoot directly into, perpendicular to the backdrop.
The sheet, or whatever you use for this, should be long enough to drape onto the floor in a smooth curve to make a gradual transition from haging straight down to lying horizontal on the floor. That way the illumination will for a smooth transition from not backlit to luminous.
The same setup for the backdrop can be used with an opaque material using front lighting as well.
You're really doing quite well.
Oh - the chest is quite good, too! (grin)
...........
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
Thanks, Dennis... I'll try out your ideas when I do the next round of photos.
DavidLook, I made a hat -- Where there never was a hat!
Dennis, Dava
To difuse an intense light source like a halogen lamp, one technique is to shine the lamp onto a white wall or bed sheet and let the reflected light fall on the object you're trying to photgraph. With a tripod camera shake on longer exposures is eliminated. You don't need a remote cord, what I do is set up the camera's self timer, line up the shot and push the button, a few seconds later, after my shadow is gone the camera takes the photo.
like the piece, too
Ian
Thanks, Ian, for the idea... and by the way, thanks both for the compliments on the chest.
For this shot, I had a two-lamp halogen work light behind me, facing the front of the piece. One lamp was pointed directly at the piece, the other was pointed at the white ceiling at about a 45-degree angle. The desk lamp was just to the left of the piece, pointing at the sheet to reduce shadow lines.
I will take your advice for the next round, and will try and find my ancient tripod... that way I can set up longer exposures and (hopefully) reduce the vibration that might also affect the clarity of the picture.
DavidLook, I made a hat -- Where there never was a hat!
Ian -
Bounce lighting is indeed very effective - nive soft almost shadowless soft light. I haven't tried it yet but I'd like to find a hice white umbrella. Bounce the light into the umbrella to 'capture' more of the illumination. Then one key light to produce some highlights.
...........
Dennis in Bellevue WA
[email protected]
Go to the Olympus, USA, web site and pick a catagory. You simply cannot go wrong here. Prices will range from a couple hundred to a couple of thousand, list price, with street price lower. I used Yahoo shopping to track down the lowest price.
I bought a model 2100 Ultra Zoom a few years ago and have been very pleased with it. It's now out of production, but there is an equivelent available. It was about $1200 list but my price was aroung $800-850 plus the 128 MB memory card I added.
http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_digital.asp
Happy picture taking!
--
Lee in Cave Junction, Oregon
On the Redwood Highway
Edited 10/24/2002 3:51:09 PM ET by Lee
I had the Nikon Coolpix 950 and it is a marvelous camera. Transferring the files from the flash cards to harddisk was as fast as using a disk drive. That required a flash card reader that cost $20 at walmart. Unfortunately, my camera disappeared while I was on a trip to CA. Hoping to find another.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy
PlaneWood
Try reading some of the well-written reviews on C|Net. You can find pricing information and feature details there too. Don't get sucked into super-mega-pixel hype: if you're just planning on taking pictures for the web you don't need the extra size image you get from the more expensive camera. It's only when you start thinking about printing 8x10 or larger that you have to worry about the fancy high-end stuff.
When it comes time to buy I would suggest ordering online from either http://www.bhphoto.com or http://www.adorama.com. There are a *lot* of sketchy sources for photography equipment online, but those two sites are very well known with good reputations and have cameras at a fair price. I've ordered many times from both over the years without issue, for both print and digital equipment.
FWIW I own a Nikon 950 and wouldn't buy it again. The camera has quirks, it's difficult to get good quality pictures using the flash (harder than it should be), and the shutter delay is way too long. My father has a Canon PowerShot (can't recall the precise model number) and is very happy with it. My wife bought an Olympus D-380 ($200) for her parents, and they like it too.
Neil
A great source of information about digital cameras is http://www.dpreview.com, which has exhaustive reviews of most current digital cameras. A good, reliable place to buy digital cameras, either on-line or by telephone is Camera World in the Portland, Oregon. Its web site is http://www.cameraworld.com. I have purchased several cameras from them and have found the prices to competitive and the service great.
I got a cheapo Toshiba at the local electronics store (under $200) and it came with cuopon for extra memory card (32meg) it will hold about 36-48 pictures? camera is 2.1megapixel more than you will ever need on the internet. I still think for best pictures I use my 35mm Canon FILM.
Gary,
I too would recommend the Nikon CoolPix series if you're just looking to snap shots of projects, family, etc. They are good cameras overall, despite some of the quirks mentioned.
However, if you are interested in going higher end, (expect to spend about $2000 and up for the body), you do indeed have all the control that you would normally have with a SLR and more. The delay that Dave mentioned is either eliminated or can be overridden with the higher end models. It's seems almost standard these days for studio photographers (in this area at least) as well as journalists to use digital. The ease of previewing and the immediate feedback you can get can be helpful.
Good luck and have fun.
Tim
Edited 10/25/2002 10:59:20 AM ET by Tim Sams
Two good links for anyone interested in digital cameras:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/
http://www.dpreview.com/
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