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What Are You Using?


cheveuxroux

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Most cameras I own are film cameras manufactured between the early 1970s to the mid 1990s.

35mm SLRs, medium format and even a couple of Instamatics in the collection.

Since 2012,  I have been using either a Canon PowerShot SX150 IS or my smart phone.

My smart phone and Canon Powershot are normally sufficient for most tasks, but photographing entries at the local MMSI and IPMS Butch OHare contests would be easier with a DSLR.

However, - as is the case with any tech device- cost of buying new and the expectation of rapid obsolescence delayed my DSLR purchase.

Oddly, it waas the purchase late last year of a little used Nikon F3 for $20.00 USD in a thrift store that prompted the purchase of a used Nikon D3300 this month.

The question I have for members is:

Do members use DSLRs to photograph their models or smart phones? 

 

Edited by cheveuxroux
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Bob,

Like most other folks, I started out with the good 'ol 35mm SLR (Canon Rebel) and slowly graduated to the high Mega Pixel digitals.  Since I produce a series of "How To" Cds, I have chosen to use at least a 25MP camera for in progress shots.  https://flagshipmodels.com/collections/how-to-cds-and-photo-albums/products/how-to-cd-photographing-models-by-rusty-white-6-pages

 

Rusty White

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I use both but for different purposes...

Phones are good for general, fast, overall space images...  think taking pics of entire tables.

The DSLR I use to get photos of individual models when I need to set the depth of field to only have that model in focus.  

The one change I may make in the future is that my iPhone has a pretty nice macro mode that doesn't require me to make a lens change....

 

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Both, but I have an old Cannon with a macro lens that I use for close up shots, and a Canon EOS for everything else.  My cellphone camera is a good backup, plus I can take/text photo's from the floor to my son.

Edited by BWScholten
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Eric Aitala and BWScholten

I'm kinda surprised that smart phones haven't nudged DSLRs out just yet.

I actually expect that older DSLRs would be in use for posting photos for a long while due to file sizes of posted photos.

Rusty White
Quote: " I have chosen to use at least a 25MP camera for in progress shots"

Rusty
I presuming your in progress photos are intended for your How To Demonstrations, though and not for posting to web pages.
Reason I say that is due to a brief examination of photos posted on this website showing file sizes between 90KB and 900 - KB in size..

Are you using a mirrorless camera? 

Edited by cheveuxroux
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Well, there are. a couple things about DSLRs and mirrorless cameras - first is the size of the lenses.  We're never really going to see lens diameters in phones anywhere near the sizes of regular cameras.  This can make a huge difference.  Also, lens quality in cameras will always be better than phones.  Second item is the level of control on regular cameras.  They are far more flexible setting wise than phones unless you're using something other than the default camera app.  For example, the iPhone camera app, while it's gotten more advanced over the years, does not expose all the settings available by the camera - you need something like Halide to do that.  The default apps are always designed with the average person who is taking the average picture in mind...

One advantage (usually) of phone cameras is the computational photography software they use to 'improve' pictures.  In many cases that's a good thing, but not always.  

Eric

 

9 hours ago, cheveuxroux said:

Eric Aitala and BWScholten

I'm kinda surprised that smart phones haven't nudged DSLRs out just yet.

I actually expect that older DSLRs would be in use for posting photos for a long while due to file sizes of posted photos.

Rusty White
Quote: " I have chosen to use at least a 25MP camera for in progress shots"

Rusty
I presuming your in progress photos are intended for your How To Demonstrations, though and not for posting to web pages.
Reason I say that is due to a brief examination of photos posted on this website showing file sizes between 90KB and 900 - KB in size..

Are you using a mirrorless camera? 

 

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13 hours ago, cheveuxroux said:

Eric Aitala and BWScholten

I'm kinda surprised that smart phones haven't nudged DSLRs out just yet.

I actually expect that older DSLRs would be in use for posting photos for a long while due to file sizes of posted photos.

Rusty White
Quote: " I have chosen to use at least a 25MP camera for in progress shots"

Rusty
I presuming your in progress photos are intended for your How To Demonstrations, though and not for posting to web pages.
Reason I say that is due to a brief examination of photos posted on this website showing file sizes between 90KB and 900 - KB in size..

Are you using a mirrorless camera? 

Kodachrome is back, better colors.  Problem (for me) is getting the film developed.  Walgreens is the only non-photo shop that develops film, but the only give you prints and a CD , no negatives.  There are a couple of pro-shops I need to check out before my trip to Pima County in January.

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Eric Aitala

I don't own an iPhone so I must rely upon comments posted by others.
The posts about iPhones that I've briefly viewed over the last few years gave me the impression that they were the best improvement for photography since digital imaging, ergo my comment about smartphones replacing DSLRs for model photography.

BWScholten
I know of only two locations- so far- in the Chicago area that process /scans film and doesn't send it to an out of state lab

http://www.pjcamera.com/

Film Processing (procamprints.com)

 

 

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Yes, the cameras in most phones are very advanced, but when it comes to optics having a big lens that can be a light bucket really helps... especially in places that are not well lit. 

As to the differences with phone and SLRs

I can show you two examples...
 

This is pretty standard table show from an iPhone (an iPhone 4!) >> 

74139_IMG_2609_4272x2848


This is from a Canon DSLR set with a very narrow depth of field >> 

74163_IMG_2635_4272x2848

 

The narrow depth shows off the model nicely and blurs out the background so it's not so distracting. While it might be doable with the iPhone you would need an app that allow you to open the camera aperture and adjust the 'shutter' speed.

 

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Oh, I'm very well aware of depth of field.

In an age of zoom lenses, I still prefer fast primes for isolating the subject from a background.

Interestingly, I do not recall seeing anyone using anything but a zoom lens on their DSLRs at the contests.
 

 

Edited by cheveuxroux
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I have a fixed 50mm, f/1.2 lens for my Canon cause it's really fast unlike the basic lens it came with which I think is a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 .  

E

9 hours ago, cheveuxroux said:

Oh, I'm very well aware of depth of field.

In an age of zoom lenses, I still prefer fast primes for isolating the subject from a background.

Interestingly, I do not recall seeing anyone using anything but a zoom lens on their DSLRs at the contests.
 

 

 

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As I only recently purchased the D3300 ( DX sensor )  used, I am watching for a fast prime lens - most likely suitable as an FX - for portraits.

Dunno enough about Nikon lenses yet to determine if a modern lens will do double duty for some macro use or not.

It is possible to use Nikon manual focus lenses on the F mount- I bought a Nikon DSLR due to the F3 purchase - but it is much more work dealing with exposure and f-stop adjustments for portraiture. 

I'll try a manual focus lens for model photos - using a tripod - when i have the opportunity to build a kit after the holiday season.

Edited by cheveuxroux
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Like you I started with a good SLR many years ago.  A Minolta XGM.  I loved that camera but film caused a lot of problems in todays world of instant photographs and you just can't make them work very easily in Photoshop.  On a trip to Japan, 20 years ago, I picked up a Minolta cool pix digital.  Great little digital camera.  Worked well but couldn't swap out lens though the zoom worked quite well.  Also, it was slow!  Several seconds to process a shot before you could take another.  

  A couple of years ago, I decided to make the jump to a mirrorless DSLR.  I got a Sony alpha 7II just after the 7III came out and got a heck of a deal.  Less than $1,000 with two lenses through the military exchange.  I love that camera with one exception I will comment on later.  It does everything really well.  It's large shots are easy to edit with Photoshop and very high resolution,  I also discovered that I could get an adapter and use my collection of old Minolta lenses.  A real bonus but of course I have to use manual settings for that, but I have some really good lenses.  

   Now for the exception.  The thing is larger and heavier than any other camera I have owned!  When shooting at shows, I use a monopod to help steady and frame the picture, especially in bad lighting.  The camera can "fix" just about anything with lighting and give a a good shot on the first try. 

  Someone mentioned depth of field and here is something I learned about recently that you might fined interesting.  Most good photo editing software has a feature called "focus" stacking.  You shoot several photos with different depth of fields and then you can electronically "stack" them to get as clear or blurred a photo as you want.    This works well on long subjects, like a train.  Set up and shoot with a fairly short focal length and then shoot several more by manually picking successively deeper parts of the subject to focus on.  Then stack them together to get a clear shot front to back.  I chose a train just for illustrative purpose because of it's extreme length, but you could use it on a larger model with a very short depth of field and cover it front to back and get a clear photo of the entire model.   I like this when I am shooting a front or rear 3/4 view.  Look it up.  I think you will find focus stacking interesting.

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PeteJ

I started with a Minolta SRT 101 then purchased an X-700 in the late 1980s; still own both and both are still fully functional.

That Sony alpha 7II with lenses was a great deal!

I do not yet use Photoshop as Paint and GIMP have been sufficient.

Thanks for mentioning focus stacking.

I have a book - purchased in the late 1980s - about model train photography using film at the time, of course.

Focus stacking would have been VERY useful for such photography.

Around 1968, Scale Modeler printed an article on tabletop model photography showing models in "action poses" (Monochrome images) that would have benefited from focus stacking.

I will give it a try.

FWIW- while my Nikon D3300 body is listed as being 0.9 lb vs your Sony,

I own film cameras that weigh much more, though I would not use them to take photos at IPMS contests.

For example:

Kiev 88 is listed as 704 grams = 1.552 pounds

Chinese Seagull 4A-103 is listed as 975 g = 2.15 pounds 

 

 

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I too started with a Minolta SRT201 in photo class.  Still works 40 years later. I use a Nikon D3500 now. Used them for 500 reviews here in IPMS 

I will say having a good photo background helps a lot. I bought several off Amazon 

Dave

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While I started using digital cameras 20 years ago, at the 2022 National, I took all my picture...some 800... with my iPhone. All my Journal articles are done with the iPhone.

Dak

IMG_3015.JPG

IMG_3017.JPG

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Yeah iPhones made me lazy.  I used to haul around a digital camera (2MP - it was a LONG time ago!), but now I just use my phone.

It was a pain hauling extra rechargeable batteries and all the accessories in the camera bag.  I used to have fits when both sets of batteries gave out while at a jobsite, which happened a couple of times.  And fumbling with those teeny memory cards.

Camera phones get better all the time, but they still have limitations - like taking decent photos of model ships!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I must admit that even Android phones do a marvelous job under some situations, but I was able to delay buying a DSLR until recently due to the nice little Canon PowerShot SX150 IS I bought 10 + years ago.

A sample photo from the MMSI Illinois contest last October:

IMG_4614.thumb.JPG.4ff38e8599df720c20d75467cee36a5f.JPG

Edited by cheveuxroux
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