Camera Upgrade Question

[Loke]

what they said….. 🙂 I say do it when  you think you can afford it.

[cameraclicker]

Thanks to dont.care for the vote of confidence.

 

I had a peek at chiefmanyrabbitguteat’s gallery and saw lots of photos I liked!

 

And, I grabbed a couple of Stefany0219’s JPEGs and lightly edited.  Here are two originals and two edits:

Original: http://cameraclicker.com/galleries/OtherSites/3939469_cdefgko269_m.jpg

Edit: http://cameraclicker.com/galleries/OtherSites/3939469_cdefgko269_m_edit.jpg

and

Original: http://cameraclicker.com/galleries/OtherSites/3970931_jknopqrt57_m.jpg

Edit: http://cameraclicker.com/galleries/OtherSites/3970931_jknopqrt57_m_edit2.jpg

Hopefully improved, what do you think?

 

I have a Rebel T2i, and a 5D Mk III, and some other bodies.  I still like my T2i, it works really well and it is light to carry around.  It doesn’t focus as quickly as the 5D Mk III, but few do.  I mostly use the centre focus point as it is the most sensitive.  I also have the 50 mm f/1.8, plastic wonder.  Like the T2i, it is light and produces excellent results, more so when you consider the relative cost.  I think 50 mm can work for portraits of an individual but as you try to take three or four people, you have to be too far back for many indoor locations and slightly longer lenses, 85 mm to 135 mm or even 200 mm tend to give more pleasing portraits because they compress distance so the nose appears shorter.  The extra real estate provided by a full frame sensor is beneficial for portraits because of that.  As far as I know, the T4i is an evolution of the T2i, with a number of cool features added like a lock so the mode knob does not accidentally change when getting it out of the bag, and commander mode so the pop-up flash can trigger an off camera flash.  Not enough to get me to upgrade, but nice none the less.  If you are shooting as an amateur and don’t have to nail every shot, every time, the T4i should deliver excellent service and as you advance, it can act as a backup camera or even second camera for those times you want to shoot long and short lenses without changing lenses constantly.

 

[Stefany0219]

Cameraclicker.  I definitely love the edited version of ballerina legs.  I absolutely see the difference between blown out highlights and not.  Thanks for the edit and showing me the improvement.  The funny thing is after the editing, I said to myself that it looked a little blown out, but I liked the “effect”.  But, seeing it in a different way was amazing.  Browneyedgirl-thanks so much for the advice and for the compliment 🙂  Chiefmanyrabbit-No, I don’t take that story as an insult as all.  Someone that would that would try and market themselves as a professional photographer within days of getting the camera is absurd.  I admit, I was trapped in my ways of thinking that a better camera would automatically make me a better photographer, but would never dream of marketing myself as pro based off just the camera.  And don’t care-we’ve been talking a lot on my other post, but thanks for the boost of confidence.  It is always rewarding hearing that from someone with experience and good at what they do.  But I will tell you all..after all of this talk, work and brain absorbing today, it just ticks me off even more when these “fauxtographers” emerge.  It’s like a joke to them and that’s  bull.  I actually have a funny story that I think you will all appreciate.  So I was talking to a neighbor last night on facebook, and she says “so I hear you’re getting into photography?”.  I tell her yes, and she asks me if I’m going to do it professionally and charge.  I told her that’s my goal to eventually get there.  She says, “well just don’t charge too much because I have a friend that only charges $50 a session and she’s right in our area”.  Well I ask her for the business name because I told her I wanted to do my homework and leads me to this fb page..I have no words..  https://www.facebook.com/BareFootPhotosBySheryl?fref=ts

And again, I wouldn’t be insulting of her at all if she didn’t claim to be what she is.  That’s the difference between fauxtographer and amateur I guess.

[Sarah]

Her $50 session is only 30 min and only includes 5 watermarked images. I agree that her images are not the best though. Lighting is so important and so many people dont know anything about it.

[cameraclicker]

I think the “looks a little blown out ” effect is from the change in white balance.  I used her left thigh just below the mid line as a white reference.  I also tried the moulding to her right but thought the first reference gave better results.  Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) has clipped and blown out indicators, which I used to guide the use of the Recovery slider to get the blown out areas slightly darker.  If you are working from a raw file, you can recover lots of detail, JPEG files have very little data so manipulation is not as effective.  The levelling tool in ACR needs less steps than in Photoshop so I adjusted level while it was open there.  Once it moved to Photoshop, I removed the vertical line at the right side and the horizontal line where seat meets wall.  I liked her skin tone better before the white balance change, so once almost everything else was done, I put the original back as a layer and just masked in the skin.  Finally I added sharpening for the legs and took some away from the rest of the image with the blur tool which removed detail/pixelation from the coloured part of the wall and took some emphasis off the moulding.  I’m delighted you like it.

The clover photo had the hand and clover sharpened to bring out the detail while the rest of the image was left about as it was.

There is a filter in most cameras that reduces sharpness to avoid moire patterns, and as you reduce image size you loose sharpness, so the final step should be sharpening, but too much sharpening leaves a bright line or halo around darker objects so too much sharpening is bad too.

[kbee]

I dream of owning a 5D some day, but I’m simply an enthusiast hoping to get into business (some day) and I don’t quite have that kind of money to spend. Nor can I justify it just yet as I’m not sure I can justify the cost with my level of skill.

I think it was touched upon before, but I would second that looking at glass before a body might be the way to go. The quality of your photos can change with better lenses (I love my little plastic wonder 50mm prime) and I feel lenses are more of a long-term investment than a body. Bodies will upgrade and evolve, but a good lens will stay that way for years to come. So I personally think before I get a 5D, I’ll be looking at some serious L glass. And I would very likely keep my 60D as a back-up, rather than sell it, until I stepping-stone my way to another full frame body like a second 5D.

That’s my personal long-term plan.

Have you considered, just as an aside, renting a 5D and other equipment? So you can get some practice in, be familiar with the equipment, and know with more certainty that it is what you need to improve your photography, or if you can wait, or would rather spend first on better lenses. Or what have you.

[Stefany0219]

Right now, the way I’m heading is better glass first (possibly 85mm 1.2).  I didn’t even know you could rent a camera like that, but I’ll look into it!

[dont.care]

..You can rent anything

 

[Loke]

borrowlenses.com

[Stefany0219]

Thanks Loke, but any experience with lensgiant?

[Author]

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