Camera poll

[leegodwine]

Damn, this is Canon Country.

 

Whats wrong with Canon?:) 

 

I usually shoot with a 17-40 F4L or 70-200 F 2.8.  But for all my trip to japan I shoot with a  24-105 F4L... Canon 5D MKII

[alpineaustralia]

Nice - I have the Canon 5D Mk I.

[Guest ___]

Damn, this is Canon Country.

 

Whats wrong with Canon?:)  

 

I usually shoot with a 17-40 F4L or 70-200 F 2.8.  But for all my trip to japan I shoot with a  24-105 F4L... Canon 5D MKII

 

I got 10k in Nikon gear.

[leegodwine]

Damn, this is Canon Country.

 

Whats wrong with Canon?:) 

 

I usually shoot with a 17-40 F4L or 70-200 F 2.8.  But for all my trip to japan I shoot with a  24-105 F4L... Canon 5D MKII

 

I got 20k in Nikon gear.

 

Nice... Nikons are great!  I love both canon and Nikon.... most locals I run into in Japan uses Nikons though, its almost as if Canon is a tourist thing:)

[Guest ___]

Correction 10k. Man, if I had 20 in Nikon, I'd've long since sold it for model train money, LOL 

[underworld]

Canon 50D for stills....several Panasonic 3 CCD cameras for video.

 

 

underworld 

[marknewton]

I'm not much of a photographer, so I'm happy enough with a PHD camera. Mine is a Fuji Finepix S5700. I still use my film cameras now and again, they're a motley collection of very old but indestructible Pentax K1000s and Spotmatics. I'm told these are now collectables! 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[CaptOblivious]

I'm not much of a photographer, so I'm happy enough with a PHD camera. Mine is a Fuji Finepix S5700. I still use my film cameras now and again, they're a motley collection of very old but indestructible Pentax K1000s and Spotmatics. I'm told these are now collectables! 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

Many photography classes insist on students using a K1000, because lenses are cheap, and because it has absolutely nothing automatic on it. The Spotmatics are pretty nice too. Anyway, nice to have a fellow Pentax K-mount user here with me :D

[scott]

Even though I'm entirely using digital cameras right now, I have two all-manual film cameras that I'll never get rid of--a Nikon FM2 (with a 35/2 and a 50/1.4), and a Fuji GW690.

[marknewton]

Many photography classes insist on students using a K1000, because lenses are cheap, and because it has absolutely nothing automatic on it. The Spotmatics are pretty nice too. Anyway, nice to have a fellow Pentax K-mount user here with me :D

 

Good on yer Captain! But we're not alone. It surprises me sometimes just how many people still use them for railfan photography here in Australia. I didn't know about the photography classes, but it makes sense when I think about it. If I get a chance, I'll scan some of my older photos and put them up, see what you think.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[marknewton]

Even though I'm entirely using digital cameras right now, I have two all-manual film cameras that I'll never get rid of--a Nikon FM2 (with a 35/2 and a 50/1.4), and a Fuji GW690.

 

At one stage I was using a borrowed Nikon F2. I was very sorry when it came time to hand it back - great camera!

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[Guest ___]

I'm not much of a photographer, so I'm happy enough with a PHD camera. Mine is a Fuji Finepix S5700. I still use my film cameras now and again, they're a motley collection of very old but indestructible Pentax K1000s and Spotmatics. I'm told these are now collectables! 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

Many photography classes insist on students using a K1000, because lenses are cheap, and because it has absolutely nothing automatic on it. The Spotmatics are pretty nice too. Anyway, nice to have a fellow Pentax K-mount user here with me :D

 

I started with a K1000, and when I was teaching photography, I insisted every student start with a K1000 and bought a copy of John Hedgecoe's Guide to Basic 35mm Photography. In retrospect, it's hard to believe I haven't taught a class in 12 years.

[KenS]

I learned photography (including darkroom work) far too long ago on a fully-manual 35mm camera (not an SLR, although I did use one of those in school for a photography class). And then stopped for lack of anything I wanted to photograph for long enough that I forgot most of what I knew.  Eventually I started up again, this time with (freight) trains, although that eventually ended for a variety of reasons (time, and other interests, being the main part).

 

Back when I was railfanning (not in Japan, alas) my camera was a Minolta Maxxum 5000i, one of the early autofocus film SLRs. I still have it, although I stopped doing film years ago. I keep thinking that one of these days I'll take it out again, but the benefits of digital make that unlikely if I'm honest with myself.

 

For a time I used a point-and-shoot digital, before finally stepping up to my current camera, a Canon EOS 40D SLR. I'd forgotten how nice a good SLR could be.  Mostly I let it do the work, but sometimes I put it into manual mode to take full control of something I want to photograph a specific way. These days it mainly gets used when I go on trips (railroad museums being a big part of that), and most recently for photographing my layout.

 

And after all that, far too many of my shots come out blurry or over/underexposed.  You'd think I'd have gotten the knack of it by now, but apparently not. 

[Guest ___]

The margins between Canon-Nikon and the rest of the pack is scary.

[scott]

FWIW, now that I've had the Panasonic G1 for a while, I'm really happy with it. I only have the 20/1.7 lens (40mm equiv in 35mm terms), since I only really use it for landscapes, so I don't know much about the zooms (which I'm guessing you'd want for railway photos). But the picture quality seems be excellent, and it works like a "real camera," unlike the small-sensor compacts we had before.

 

Here's a link to one of my favorite (warning: non-train  ) photos from it so far. If you're curious, you can see the full 4000x3000 version by clicking "original" at the top.

[Guest ___]

I've been giving the G1 some thought for quite some time now as my D2Hs and the D3 are too big to carry around for street use. I'd wish we had more options for digital rangefinders. There were too many issues with the Leica M8, I never played with the M8.2 or M9, and the Epson RD-1 was too short a run to get. The M4/3rd systems are coming closer and closer to dRangfinder.

[scott]

Yeah, it's pretty close--in fact, it's close enough for me. Out of all the digital cameras we've had, this is by far my favorite.

 

But I wouldn't want the GF1--the viewfinder in the G1 makes it much easier and faster to use. I don't  know why people objected to the smallish "hump" on the G1.

[clem24]

Yeah, it's pretty close--in fact, it's close enough for me. Out of all the digital cameras we've had, this is by far my favorite.

 

But I wouldn't want the GF1--the viewfinder in the G1 makes it much easier and faster to use. I don't  know why people objected to the smallish "hump" on the G1.

 

That's not the point of the GF1 though. I think for any serious photographer, the GF1 will never do. But coupled with the pancake lens, it is a truly portable setup and because of that, will make you actually want to go out and take pictures! For me, the GF1 is still a little too big for true portability (i.e. something that I can just toss in the diaper bag) because I'd probably want something more flexible than just the pancake. So for that, I have the LX3. No where near as good past ISO200 but it's very small, and has incredible PQ in outdoor conditions, and there's no lens for the GF1 that's equivalent to the LX3 (24-60 f/2-2.8). And even if there was, it'll lose most of it's portability (I think the current wide angle, which is a 7-14 is a.) pretty large and b.) $$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!).

[scott]

Boy, you aren't kidding--it's over $1000! Yeesh.

 

I have an old LX1 that I carry around on the bike as a just-in-case camera. I like the 16:9 sensor, but yeah, the low-light performance is pretty poor. Too bad the GH1 is so expensive; I wish they had given the G1 the 16:9 sensor. I don't need the GH1's video functions.

[Guest ___]

Yeah, it's pretty close--in fact, it's close enough for me. Out of all the digital cameras we've had, this is by far my favorite.

 

But I wouldn't want the GF1--the viewfinder in the G1 makes it much easier and faster to use. I don't  know why people objected to the smallish "hump" on the G1.

 

That's not the point of the GF1 though. I think for any serious photographer, the GF1 will never do. But coupled with the pancake lens, it is a truly portable setup and because of that, will make you actually want to go out and take pictures! For me, the GF1 is still a little too big for true portability (i.e. something that I can just toss in the diaper bag) because I'd probably want something more flexible than just the pancake. So for that, I have the LX3. No where near as good past ISO200 but it's very small, and has incredible PQ in outdoor conditions, and there's no lens for the GF1 that's equivalent to the LX3 (24-60 f/2-2.8). And even if there was, it'll lose most of it's portability (I think the current wide angle, which is a 7-14 is a.) pretty large and b.) $$$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!).

 

I disagree on that. I have a D1i (Infared) D1L (Lomo-conversion) a D2Hs, and two D3's and a D3x issued to me by the Coast Guard. And after 15 years of carrying those beasts plus Nikon F3's F4's and F5's, I can't go anywhere without a camera and to be truthful, my shoulders just can't take carrying full-size rigs everywhere I go. At the same time, a small CoolPix can't come close to delivering. The M4/3 is a very acceptable compromise when I'm out running to the Safeway or out walking.  I can't be locked in to one focal length if I do get called to work with no kit in the car, so the LX3 is out for me. 24 can be too wide if I'm stuck behind a line, and 24 is not wide enough if I am caught in the dead center. My two most used lenses for photojournalism work has been the 70-200 and the 12-24. My least used is my 24-70. Even if I'm not on the clock for the Post, and am just railfanning, the 24-70 is the least use.

[acousticco]

No Rolleiflex, Yashica or Hasselblad?

 

I usually shoot a Leica M6 & Elmarit 28mm or a Hasselblad 500CM & Zeiss 80mm, but I also love my Olympus Pen D3 original half-frame camera.  I've gone digital with an Olympus E-P1 with a Leica M adapter so I can use any Leica M or screw mount lens on it, my favorite being a Voigtländer 15mm f4.5.  I'd love to visit Japan, as much for the trains as for the cameras: http://tokyocamerastyle.com/

 

-Cody

[Guest ___]

I've been thinking about that Olympus Pen. Personally, it would be nice if there were cheaper alternatives to the M9 like Voigtlander, or Zeiss digital. I have a  few friends who were livid when they went from the M7 film to M8 and M8.2 about how they performed. (for the cost) If film wasn't such a pain to deal with these days, I would just revert back to shooting with an M3 and Pan-X, but what can ya do.

[KenS]

My two most used lenses for photojournalism work has been the 70-200 and the 12-24. My least used is my 24-70. Even if I'm not on the clock for the Post, and am just railfanning, the 24-70 is the least use.

 

When I was railfanning, I used a 70-200mm lens almost exclusively.  I had a shorter zoom (20-70, I think) and eventually added an f2.8 50mm for low-light static shots. But I rarely used either. There were a few shots I recall wanting a longer telephoto for, but in truth the pictures probably wouldn't have come out very well due to lighting or shake.

 

These days I use the kit 28-135 that came with my Canon (which with the 1.6x CCD factor works out about the same on the long end, but goes down shorter than a "50mm"), and it's very versatile.  I've used it indoors (museums and photographing my layout) and outdoors (mostly "railfanning" train museums), and really haven't found myself wanting another lens.

[keiman]

Not put any thing down as don't use camera's that much, most of my shots tend to be car based anyway.

Still have my old film camera- Zenith manual with M42 mount lenses that I used to use for motorsport photos back in the 1980's  :confused5:but now use my Samsung phone (5.0Meg) or my Samsung NV4 which I still have not really spent a lot of time working out all it's features. Also have two specialist digitals- one for the refractor Telescope but not used that since we moved 3 years ago due to not having space , also a micro video sytem that is fitted to the car for convoys .

[Guest ___]

I use to live by the 70-200 and70-300 railfanning. But two years ago when I went to Tokyo and Miyazaki at the last minute a day before I was to leave decided that I just did not went to lug around all that weight for two weeks and bought one of those Nikon 18-200 VR's just to reduce the weight as I know I would have the camera and Domke around my neck for 12 hours a day for 14 days.

 

The lens is pretty good except at the 120-140mm range it goes to hell, especially at 135mm. But, I cam to love being able to shoot at 200mm then roll back to 18mm shooting in between with this huge spread of images available to pool from when I got home. Sadly this meant I went from maybe 5-7 images per train to about 10-15 when shooting in CL (5fps) and tripped that if shooting CH (9fps)

 

Interesting to note that the focal length that I shoot the least number of shots in and has the least number of frames I use is between 28-85mm with most keepers in the long or short end of the lens. Sadly with the rain this trip, I may just lug the 70-200 and the 12-24 with me and just swap glass as needed for the extra light.

 

The other thing I like about the 18-200 is that it is small enough that the glass does not attract a lot of attention, something the f/2.8 has never been able to hide. Another reason why I want a dRangefinder. The Nikon's gather too much attention.