John Bennett
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Adam the photos on your website are awesome and inspiring. I am also an OP subscriber, so it is cool to see your work there.
Nice to see another Ontarian here 🙂
Great idea Zach, but good greif so hard to pick just one. Lots of good/great photos for me inlcuding that one of the Steelhead leaping with the stone fly visible.
But I’m going with the following.
Every Fall from Mid Oct to the end of Nov I spend every free minute hunting/stalking White Tails. This year was one of my best in terms of sheers numbers and encounters but also in getting close to big bucks, with six different 10 pointers and one 13pointer all within good range. Anyone who spends the month of Sept scouting, Oct checking scrape lines and Nov trying to call the big boys in, or stalk them should appreciate it. Then add the difficulty of wanting decent to good light while playing the wind and well…till this year the big boys had largely eluded me..so there you go. I’ve better technical and artistic but few that have been a 5 year “chase”
Don’t quote me on this but I beleive there are adapters and filters out there for it.
I love having a high end PnS.
There are times I can’t or dont want to lug my DSLR and a lens or two around. If money was on the line, I’d reach for the DSLR every time, however they are more than capable. I have some shots taken with mine published including a double truck. I have a couple friends who really just like taking bug shots, fish portraits etc and they are happy with their PnSs…Look at it this way.
A good 1:1 macro lens will set you back 1g (give or take).
A good PnS ( such as a G12, S95, or similiar) will set you back about 500.Meaning.
If you buy a DSLR, and macro is your thing, your going to get a macro lens (50,100,150mm) on top of a body. You *could* play with a G12 in store (bring a card) by setting some dimes on a suitable surface, see if it will scracth the itch and buy a DSLR another day.while I take photos as an aside to my fishing, which means we have differences like I can’t feasibly carry 6 lenses and use them all in a day like those guys. So expect plenty of advice-seeking soon! Would love to hear the advice of fellow fly fishermen on photog queries.
Um, just wait. 🙂
Re your question.
To each his own, ultimately how you go about acquiring your “kit” is up to you. Its a long path getting there.Bodies and lenses each represent roughly 50% of the photographic equation. That is, you cant take *any* picture without one or the other.
Put an average lens on a great body. You get average IQ
Put a great lens on an average body. You get great IQNo matter what, it’s a hard certaintity. You will replace your body at some point. Your lenses if you buy smart and take care of them can/will last your life.
Bodies come and go/ Glass is your investment.
Jennifer. In layman terms
A typical point and shoot has one “zoom” lens. It can range from 17mm out to 300mm. That describes its “focal” length.With SLRs.
You can buy a whole host of lenses of varying focal lengths. Some are zooms, some are primes. You can think of zooms as “all” purpose or “multi” purpose and primes as “specific” purpose. As you get further and further into photography, you acquire different lenses to fulfill “focal range” coverage and “specialty” lenses.A wide angle for landscapes will be in the neighborhood of 17mm to 35mm
Portrait lenses: 35mm to 85mm
mid range: 100mm to 200mm
telephotos: 300mm plus.
……………fx.x
Denotes the lenses widest aperture setting. Most “consumer” lenses have as their widest setting f4 to f5.6. The wider you can open the lens, the more light and pass through in the same time all else equal.
So when you read f1.8, thats telling you the lenses maximum aperture setting, which affects your exposure settings and artisic choices with regards to Depth of Field.Nowhere near as comprehensive an answer as it should be, but it should give you an idea as to what was being mentioned.
From what Im seeing it looks fairly similiar to zenfolio. In the process myself of revamping it from a pure host, removing the zen branding and using my own domain etc, fun fun fun.
I passed on a friends 800mm Christmas day. Could have done it, probably should have, given I will likely own it one day. However with a move coming in 2 weeks and fallout expenses from that……being responsible isn’t always fun 🙂
So I bought his 16-35 mkii New years day when he listed that as well. Guy was killing me, in the space of a week he listed 2 of the last 3 lenses I want in my arsenol.
Mike.
the 400 takes TCs really well. Theres a wee hit to IQ but it barely perceptible. The biggest downside to using a 1.4 on it, is the hit to focus speed. Which is a big trade off when shooting birds. Basically youll want to decide if your after flight shots or not..If you are, I wouldnt mount it. You’ll get some flight shots, but miss a ton.I am tiring of the candy apple red, lime green, blaze orange, etc mid weight poly pro shirts, hats, jackets etc that are so often seen in outdoor magazines these days. Especially in fishing photos.
I get it…brown and kaki don’t jump off the page…but I am sure there is more than one story of a guide giving it to a client for showing up in loud colored gear.
Tim.
The mags I deal with/shoot for are very much against those kinds of colors. Anytime I’m sent on an assignment I’ll spend time in the days/weeks leading up to the shoot conversing with the writer. Most of it is pre shoot check list type stuff and discussing the meat/direction of the article. The writer is looking for certain shots to complement the article, and the AD will have given me his wish list and then we talk about what/where/how etc. Part of that when doing fishing articles is reminding the writer not to wear fire engine red, bright green/orange etc and to bring 2 or 3 shirts for change outs. Thats not to say they won’t use photo’s of that nature, but the preference is not to. At the end of the day, if the writer submits 20 photos along with his article ( prime source of vast majority of photos) and it’s not in the budget to supplement/compliment/replace them with stock purchases…they use what the writer takes and sends . Remember most writers are writers first, photogrpahers second and some cant be bothered to learn at all.Great stuff Adam.
God I’d love to shoot in your back yard someday, the back drops are stunning. Would be even better to shoot with you 🙂Rule of thumb for handlholding for the average person.
1/focal length or better.So if your shooting at 100mm, you want to be at 1/100th or faster. Keep in mind IS/VR changes that by 1 or more stops depending on the lens and version of IS.
fair price.
The B/G isn’t for everyone. Sometimes I really like it, sometimes its ok and sometimes its just not the filter to use. I often take shots with and without it so I can take my pick once Ive got the shot up in PS
Jay….we’re probably falling vicitim to the fashion craze to a degree (Note-I was wearing North Face before it was cool to do so.) Walmart fleece is probably just as good to a degree as NF or Mountain Hardware fleece but what’s the worst that could happen if the jacket fails you on a wet and chilly Saturday afternoon at a football game? Now if that same Wallyworld fleece jacket fails you 5 days into a 10-day float trip on the Alagnak….you could die.
There are certain things I personally won’t skimp on…..Gore Tex jacket and a good base layer are two of them. Quality waders and boots, tent and sleeping bag are up there on the list as well.
Bingo.
Ultimately I’m thinking this discussion depends entirely on the climate and conditions you often find yourself in and the duration your in them.
For some people. When something goes south it can be the difference between living to tell the tale, or not. That’s worst case scenario.However day in and day out while you should keep that in the back of your mind (worst case scenario) I’m looking for comfort. Someone above said after “two” hours….Well for me that doesnt cut it. If its -20 out and I have plans, if Im going home after two hours Im not having fun.
My “technical” clothing is to me more important than any of my hardware. Meaning, pound for pound I’ll shell out more for that than *any* rod or reel.
I just gave up the ghost on a perfectly good, $300 pair of Irish Setter winter boots because after two years and days where I spent 4 to 6 hrs in -20 temps they werent keeping my feet warm enough. Replaced them with an equally expensive pair of Sorels.
Outer wear and your base layers if you live in certain climates are not to be skimped on in my opinion and yes the better stuff does make a difference.
A $1,000 rod/reel combo isn’t much good if after a couple hours your cold/wet/had enuogh and in the car heading home.
/edit add
Had this duscussion on another outdoors board a few weeks ago about wading jackets for winter. The usual makers were mentioned..Simms, Pata, Loop etc but most of that discussion centered on the imortance of layering. A good base layer, a mid layer and a good outer layer can keep you going for hours even in very poor conditions.Related an experience I had last spring fishing for Brookies on a remote back lake just after ice out. Water temp was just above freezing and air temps a little better, maybe around 6 degrees C
Forecast was good, with rain called for late in the day. By 9am it was raining, by Noon a full blown storm rolled in with toretial rain and heavy lightning, much worse than called for. We (there were about 8 of us in kayaks) had to ride it out just off shore.
By 2pm when the rain slowed most people had had enough. There were only a couple of us still dry, still warm and comfortable and willing to keep fishing.
taken just before we reached the put in/out, when the storm had “cough” let up enough to safely get back “cough”
I wonder how those people would have fared if the storm hadnt let up enough to allow people to return to the put in safely. At one point as I sat in my yak under a tree in a bay riding it out around 1pm I did in fact begin to wonder if we’d be able to cover the miles back before dark.
Same as Kurt again.
if your considering a switch just go straight to the 27in imac. I did this past summer and now wonder why I waited so long.
one word on imacs.
They are “bright” out of the box, you will want to calibrate it if you dont already have a device budget for one.I’ll have a closer look when I have more time Mike.
No isues such as that Mike. Missed focus is rare.1) It hasn’t grabbed anything. Theres enough contrast that it should. Dont have the menu #s handy, but what do you have af priority set to in custom functions? Theres only personal preference, no right/wrong. Mine is set to prevent shutter release on the first frame.
2) Looks like the reel cover is outside your dof. The wall seems fine at these dimensions. Could be a back/front focus (which you can adjust) however I didnt need to do that on any of my llenses. Were you possibly inside your lenses MFD?
3) Personal preference but I rarely use single with assist. When shooting wildlife (especialy birds) I use single point only.
feel free to message or email me as well.
jrdben@rogers.com
