How to make good pictures: share your experience

hepho84 · Post by **hepho84** » 27 Jun 2005, 19:27

Hello,

As a newcomer in aircraft spotting I'll get soon a new dslr.

My choice is narrowed between D70/D70s/D50, final choice not yet done but as specifications are rather similar, the price may be the deciding factor.

About D50 is the 2,5 fps limit (vs 3 for D70(s)) a real drawback ?

About lenses, apart an all-round lens (probably 18-70 nikon or 18-200 sigma), I intend to buy a bigger lens for spotting.

But which one ?

Is 200mm enough or should I go for 300mm, given that with D70 the adjustment factor give 300 and 450 equivalent 35mm camera ?

Possible choice are :

Sigma 100-300 F4 (maybe my 1st choice)
Sigma 70-200 F2.8 (nice but is it enough ?)
Sigma 70-300 DG APO
Sigma 80-400 EX DG
Sigma 50-500
Nikon 80-200 2.8 (not VR)
Nikon 70-300 ED (already tested the non ED version, not really impressed)

I don't want to exceed 1000 €, so the superb nikon 70-200 vr is out of reach

I somebody could give me some feedback about these lenses, it'd be appreciated.

Thank in advance

Post by **Bottie** » 27 Jun 2005, 21:32

First of all, Welcome

1000€, is that your budget for cam AND lense, or just the lense?

I'm a satisfied user of the Sigma 50-500, but on a Canon. If your budget is 1000€ for just the lens, I would go for that one, unless your happy with 300mm (to get the 300mm 2.8 or 4.0)

hepho84 · Post by **hepho84** » 27 Jun 2005, 22:46

Thank for your answer.

Well 1000 € is for the lens only

So the 50-500 is at the top end of my budget.

But what could decide me (apart the range) is aperture :

4-6.3 for 50-500
4 for 100-300

How good is the 50-500 when light isn't so good ?

I've read good advice about either lens but if 300mm could be enough for spotting, I'll go for the 100-300.

Is there any other lens to consider ?

Regards

Jense · Post by **Jense** » 27 Jun 2005, 23:08

hepho84 wrote:How good is the 50-500 when light isn't so good ?

The 50-500 is a lens with a lot different point of views I think.

+:
- it's quite an all round lens (OK, it is 50 mm to begin with but still...)
- it's one of the cheapest 'superzooms' with affordable quality around
- extremely sharp

-:
- heavy: what a weight to carry it an whole day!
- in original pictures there are no much colours. So you'll have to edit afterwards with a photo-editing-program. Though, I have seen examples wich were heavy 'photoshopped'. Great colours etc. but the quality raises down quite fast when doing heavy editing (wich is sometimes required for sure)
- due to it's weight, you may have problems with keeping it stabile @ 500 mm (that's 100% personal)

hepho84 wrote:Is there any other lens to consider ?

Maybe you can consider the Canon EF 300 F4 L IS USM prime? For the moment there is an action wich makes the total price @ 1070 EUR (www.cornevaniperen.nl).

hepho84 · Post by **hepho84** » 27 Jun 2005, 23:28

Unfortunately not, has I'm looking for a Nikon D70 or D50 (I don't like the grip of the 350D, to small and the price of the 20D is just to high for me).

About buying a prime, it's not really what I'm looking for as it lacks of flexibility.

Anyway, thank for your comments.

About the wheigt of the 50-500 : 1,8 kg yes that's far from lightweight

.

Jense · Post by **Jense** » 27 Jun 2005, 23:41

hepho84

are you sure you want to go for the Nikon D70 or D50? Because... Canon's 300D and 350D are much cheaper, with the same quality but with better colours, contrast, ...

I'm quite sure most of the members here will agree.

(But don't take it wrong: Nikon isn't a bad product neither! Also quite good photographers use Nikon equipment!)

hepho84 · Post by **hepho84** » 28 Jun 2005, 00:13

hey don't worry I certainly won't take it bad

About the 350D : it's as good as the Nikon (could I say more ?

) but my 1st impression was not so good.

The grip is real small and so the handling was not as comfortable as for the D70.

But it's a good idea to give the 350D a second try. Maybe I wasn't simply accustomed to the canon.

I think I'll spend a little more time at the store to confirm (or not) my 1st impression before taking the final decision.

Regards

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 28 Jun 2005, 11:07

Hi hepho84,

300mm is for sure enough. With a 300mm lens you can take shots from every spot without too many restrictions and on most airports it's enough zoom.

If I were you I would start with 300mm and later switch to a bigger zoom.

I myself "only" use a Tamron 28-300 and I've been able to shot at every airport were I've been without any problems.

Chris

AN124 · Post by **AN124** » 28 Jun 2005, 11:18

Hi Helpho,

I'm using the D70 myself.
Currently I have the following lenses:

Sigma 18-50
Sigma 55-200
Nikkor 70-300 ED

I must say that's I'm really statisfied with the Nikkor lens. Most of the time I do use this lense.

Here you can find some of the shot's made with it: http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search
Most of the shots from December 2004 are made with the Nikkor.

Best Regards,
Yvo

Jense · Post by **Jense** » 28 Jun 2005, 11:44

hepho84

What you say about the 350D is indeed kinda true. I've heard a lot of people complain about it because it's simply too small so it doens't fit your hands very well.

About your lens choice. Be aware: 300 mm is enough, for sure. BUT; keep also in mind that almost all lenses at the end of their zoom range do perform a little bit less: softer images, less quality, vignetting, ...

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 28 Jun 2005, 12:26

AN124 wrote:http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search
Most of the shots from December 2004 are made with the Nikkor.

Isn't that a wrong link ? Shouldn't it be: this one

BUT; keep also in mind that almost all lenses at the end of their zoom range do perform a little bit less: softer images, less quality, vignetting, ...

That's true I forgot to mention that.

Chris

Flying-Belgian · Post by **Flying-Belgian** » 03 Jul 2005, 09:16

Hi friends !!

I'm using the D70. I'm very pleased with it. Really a nice camera. I currently have the kit's 18-70 DX lens (which is excellent BTW), and Nikkor's 70-300 ED. The latter has nothing to compare with the G version that seems to be crap.
If you want to sart with the D50-D70 take the 70-300 ED it's really good value for money unless you directly want to make the step to a 70-200/300 f2,8 with IS or VR function.

I currently think the 350D is the BEST camera / Best value for money on the market BUT indeed having tried it you don't have a pleasant grip on it which makes it an unfriendly camera to spot with. But it really works better than a D70-D50 on high sensibility phases (>800ISO).

FB. 8)

Zorba · Post by **Zorba** » 03 Jul 2005, 09:38

When you buy a 350D, the best thing you can do is buy the grip with it. Much more stable and it makes the 350D already bigger

Flybe · Post by **Flybe** » 03 Jul 2005, 20:06

Ok guys & girls, here's a question.

Already for a while, i've been thinking of taking up photography as a hobby. So i started searching for a decent (and payable) camera. When i was still living with my parents, we had a normal digital camera, but i want something better. Since i'm now living together with my girlfriend, i don't have a camera, so i want/need to buy one anyway, so it's a perfect time to invest a little bit more money into a camera and take it up as a hobby. Although i do not have too much money to spend on it (also because i'm just living together now 8) ). So what i'm searching for: a good camera, with preferably a good zoom, for a sharp price.

I'm not a spotter, but i might occasionally try that if i have the new camera. But the camera would be mainly for other purposes (nature, portrets, as well as holiday pictures etc.).

I've been reading Trends and they made a comparison of some cameras. Although they chose for another camera, i liked the most the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H1 (also due to the price

, it's about the money i want to spend on it, the budget you guys have for a camera is not really what i'm willing to spend at this moment).

http://www.topvisionshop.de/ seems to have it at a good price for example.

What i need to know: anyone has experience with this camera? What do you think of it? And as i'm the utter amateur on this subject: what do you think of the specifications?

Any other suggestions in this pricerange?

Greets, and thanks for the help,

Pieter

Zorba · Post by **Zorba** » 03 Jul 2005, 20:42

Try www.topfoto-online.de, great shop, and the owner speaks Dutch.

Look for the Canon Powershot S2 IS. IS helps you in bad light conditions, very usefull! And it gets a general good review.

Bye!

yabu · Post by **yabu** » 13 Jul 2005, 11:17

In future my equipment will be

Nikon D50
Tamron 28-300
2 x Sandisk 1024mb (1gb)

Why D50? Because i have to get the best camera i can get for a low price and as a beginning photographer i don't need the heavy equipment.

yabu

crowke · Post by **crowke** » 13 Jul 2005, 13:10

Yesterday I've tried my first plane pictures. Although I think they're not
too bad for a first try, I encountered some problems. I know some of my
plane pic's are not traditional "spotter"-pics, but I wanted to do some
experiments on zoom, distance and lightning.

http://www.lieven.be/zaventem

Camera: Minolta Z2
Pictures taken between 20:00 and 22:00 on july 11

I needed to use shutter speed 1/1000 to get a sharp picture, which forced me
to go to aperture size 3.5, which is not enough I'm afraid. What would you
suggest? Trying to go 1/800 or 1/600 and move along with the plane?

Another thing: as you can see, some of the pictures have dark corners.
Anyone has an idea on what this can be?

All hints are also very welcome!

Zorba · Post by **Zorba** » 13 Jul 2005, 15:51

crowke,

the dark corners is vignetting, mostly happens with long range zoom lenses. I think it's very weird you can only take sharp pictures at 1/1000, how long do you have your camera already? Try some new settings, etc

Seems you've got some superb weather.

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 14 Jul 2005, 20:00

I have a question.

I would like to know how I can tell to my EOS300D to use the flash in conditions where the camera doesn't want to use any....

Chris

Post by **Bottie** » 14 Jul 2005, 23:51

Avro wrote:I have a question.

I would like to know how I can tell to my EOS300D to use the flash in conditions where the camera doesn't want to use any....

Chris

push the button to make your flash pop out?

Aviation24.be

How to make good pictures: share your experience

First try