The Latest Retirement Hobby!

[ROGER4314]

When I retired, I knew that survival depended upon keeping busy, learning and growing. Those who fail in that simply die off.

Lately, my smashed toe, a victim of an industrial sized fire extinguisher falling on it, has kept me from the shooting range. Frustration from that loss spawned revival of some old hobbies.

I was heavy into 35mm photography and had some excellent film cameras. I had press passes for the OSU football games and took sideline photos for a long time. Then it evolved into photos of people, flowers and birds.

(Then I got into snapshot digital cameras and the low appeal of just pressing a button made me wander elsewhere.)

Film and processing cost were always a major limitation on 35mm use.

Now, a new generation of digital SLR cameras are available for less than a kings ransom so I jumped on it!

I got a Nikon D3300 DSLR with a full compliment of lenses and have set out to find interesting things to photograph!

The DSLR is set up just like the 35mm versions with interchangeable lenses and rigged with an internal mirror so you actually see what the digital array sees through the lens before you hit the shutter button. You see TTL (through the lens).

The coolest part is that there is no processing cost for the pics and changes that you make using the lenses are viewable immediately. You don't need to wait a couple days to see what changes in the lens and camera body do to the final image. This is fun!

The Harley is going to be a player in this hobby, too. I'll take my equipment to the river bottoms and bayous to get interesting shots and get to ride the Harley while I do that!

I bought a book on the Nikon D3300 camera and learning all of the features available on this camera is a long, involved process!

SO...this is an old hobby revitalized and with the twist of looking for shots while riding the Harley. There are some old cemeteries, abandoned buildings and places that deserve another look!

Flash

 

[karlac]

When I retired, I knew that survival depended upon keeping busy, learning and growing. Those who fail in that simply die off.

Why I still work ...

Inherited (through wife), a lake house, with 175' water front and good fishing; and the area has plenty of golf courses.
Since I'm neither fisherman nor golfer, if I moved there it would be to die.
Worst of all ... it's not in Texas.

SO...this is an old hobby revitalized and with the twist of looking for shots while riding the Harley. There are some old cemeteries, abandoned buildings and places that deserve another look!

Sounds like a rewarding pursuit.
Problem for some of us is hobbies have a habit of turning into work.

 

[ROGER4314]

I ordered a telephoto lens yesterday and found that the cost of getting into digital SLR cameras is a lot less than it was to build a complete brace of 35mm equipment.

The neatest thing is that for every lens change, I have a whole new camera from close up (macro) to telephoto and every place in between The interchangeable lenses mean that my basic Single Lens Reflex camera is now at least 5 different cameras!

My best 35 mm was a Minolta setup with a full compliment of lenses. The telephoto lens performed heavy service in the OSU football games! I sold that entire rig after years of constant use and it still brought several hundred Dollars.

It made little sense to skimp on lenses for the digital SLR, as the whole point of this foray into digital is to take advantage of the "instant feedback" provided by the digital system. You snap a pic and there's the result....immediately.

In contrast, for 35mm, I bought the film for a few bucks per roll then had to pay for processing and printing (about $10 depending on if it was 24 or 36 exposure). That burned about 3-5 days and half the time, you forget the changes that you made in the lens and camera to make that shot. The best option was to write it down. The digital system keeps a record imbedded into every shot.

If you screwed up, the cost was still the same. In digital, an error is "Blink" gone with no real cost involved. The batteries are even rechargeable Lithium Ion items that cost $20-$30. Once the initial cost is covered, it's a free ride.

All things considered, digital SLR cameras are an ideal learning tool. There are lots of options and immediate feedback. It's going to be fun!

The ease (and boredom) of using snapshot digital cameras is long gone. Single lens reflex cameras are a challenge!

Flash

 

[SA_Steve]

They are big fun. I've got 3 10 yr old Nikons and spent yesterday watching the two video dvd's on how to use the D200. Dang, these things can be complex.

As an old film photographer since the 60's, I cannot believe the sophistication of the auto-focus, matrix metering, and TTL flash metering.

What's sad is the 'more is better' thinking when it comes to megapixels and their sensitivity (effective asa film speed). There's lots more factors relating to pixel size and dynamic range and noise that points to a sweet spot not equal to 'more'.
And the lens has something to do with picture quality too.

 

[Army 1911]

Started my photography with a 4x5 view camera then went to a 4x5 Speed Graphic, then a 3.25x4.25 Graflex SLR, then a 120 Exacta SLR then a Nikon F (1963 model which I still have). Then various other Nikons with 8 prim lenses. Then a Hasselblad 120 SLR.

Now I have two digital SLRS, one Nikon and one Olympus. I hate them both for various reasons. I don't like auto focus or program modes. I want the old style metering with the pointer and a true shutter speed dial. The digitals work but they force me to give up too much control.

 

[IXLR8]

It sounds like you have a nice rig!

A few years ago I got the same bug, and bought some expensive camera equipment. It all sits in a closet now. What I found is, when I go somewhere I do not want to worry about someone stealing my equipment. It is bulky to carry, and reduces your mobility. You are worried about bumping or scratching it, leaving it in the sun, and the list continues...

In two years the next generation pocket camera will have the same capabilities. Having a camera in your pocket, out of sight makes you less of a target for thieves. It also leaves your hands free to hold a drink, your wife or childs hand, or carry something useful..

I exclusively use pocket camera's and can afford to replace them many times for the price I paid for the expensive one. If it goes into a river, or gets run over in a parking lot, or my kid spills a drink on it, who cares.... Just buy newer better one.

 

[shortround]

I once had a state-of-the-art 35mm Japanese Nikon. Went to an affair, got a little libation under my belt, and went home without it. It was gone the next day. Don't think I have taken a photograph since.

Be well.

 

[ROGER4314]

The 35mm cameras were a lot easier to understand. You bought the film and installed it then told the camera what ISO/asa the film was. That was set and done and all you needed to do was select the Fstop aperture and the shutter speed for the shot.

These digital cameras also modify the film sensitivity which throws a wild card into the mix! The array can be programmed to respond as slow film like ASA 50 to ASA 12,800 and can be converted to TWICE that film speed! That really changes things and I haven't figured it out, yet. As I posted earlier, this digital photography is a real challenge.

RE Snap shot cameras. I agree, the convenience of a digital snap shot camera is outstanding. I have a whole dresser drawer of those cameras including Olympus 2040 and C-700 with optical zoom. They are terrific cameras! The tiny Nikon Coolpix 2100 is a favorite, too.

I wanted a new challenge and this one still causes episodes of head scratching even as I use a book to help me.

Incidentally, the Nikon D3300 has a burst mode of 5 still pictures per second (without flash use) and can take video with audio track. This sucker has all kinds of features and I'm looking forward to finding ways to put them to work!

I'm not sure if you guys caught it but Army described some incredible optical equipment in his post. Those cameras are like the Holy Grail of photography!

Flash

 

[benenglish]

I exclusively use pocket camera's and can afford to replace them many times for the price I paid for the expensive one.

I took that approach with my last camera purchase, a Fujifilm X100T. It's nice and takes great pictures. But it's not fast. I need fast.

Back in the days of film, I was constantly looking around, adjusting the dials on my camera to reset exposure to where I was right then and adjusting focus to approximately where I thought the next shot would show up. 9 times out of 10, I could see a picture, throw the camera to my face, hit the shutter release, and have my photo. Such opportunities presented themselves and were gone in a half-second or less, typically.

Modern cameras, until you graduate to real SLRs, are too slow for that. Throw it to your eye and mash the shutter button while set to "A" and there may be a half-second delay. On low-end cameras and with phone cameras, there may be a 3-second delay. Photo missed.

I've even gotten frustrated with my Nikon F5, sometimes. When I'd have it set wrong (where the autofocus had to confirm before the shutter would release), I'm miss pictures. There are times when, yes, I know it's going to be a little out of focus but "Dammit! I hit the release! Take a picture, you stupid camera!"

I hate it when that happens.

With all that said, I wouldn't go back to film for action work. The incremental cost of each additional photograph, when working in digital, is essentially zero. That counts for a lot.

I don't have time for it now but someday I'll be alone in this world. When I am, I'm thinking there's an 11x14 field view camera out there calling my name.

 

[ROGER4314]

I dated a professional photographer for about a year who taught me a lot about 35mm film and processing. We developed film and printed, cropped, enlarged the images. The equipment was way over my head financially but the knowledge gained was beyond price!

Been thinking about taking an adult education class about photography and image composition at the college where I worked. I love to learn new things and I'm ready to start digging into this.

Flash

 

[mitchntx]

The group of folks I coordinate all have Nikons ... D800, D600, D3s and D2.


They are all feature rich and can be extremely confusing when going from inside fluorescent to inside sodium vapor to outside in full sun.
Adjust color balance for 1 and the others are fouled up. Guess that is why God invented Photoshop ...

The delay does take a while to get used to.
It has made me a better photographer, though. I now have to anticipate a bit.
Means I have to pay more attention to light and framing to get the shot.
That and a fast freaking 24-70mm lense and Photoshop to crop.
Sure is a lot easier to compose the final shot on a 24" monitor.

Photoshop Elements 13 has all the basic photo editing tools you would ever need. Goes on sale regularly for $39.

After a D3 or D800, its hard to go back to the trusty ole D70.

For snapshots though, a cell phone of recent vintage takes some pretty good pictures with good saturation and reasonable depth of field.

 

[Younggun]

We have a Cannon and a cell phone or point and shoot doesn't come close to what the Cannon is capable of.

Add in a telephoto lens and you can get shots you could only dream about with a cheaper camera or phone.

Yes, it's more work, but the reward is having the shots you really want instead of settling for what your cell phone can give you.

 

[mitchntx]

Yes, it's more work, but the reward is having the shots you really want instead of settling for what your cell phone can give you.

To get that great shot, the most important thing is to have a camera to capture it.

If going out to capture something specific, certainly gear up and go.
But I don't drag 5 lbs of camera and lense around with me like I do my phone.

Maybe a little context will help clarify ... A snapshot, to me, is capturing something spontaneous and unexpected.

 

[Younggun]

In that case I agree, but I couldn't have gotten this with my cell phone

Disclaimer: Just about anyone with any photography experience probably could have done those 10 times better.

 

[ROGER4314]

I do all of my editing on an HP program that I've used for years. The new Nikon program looks promising, too. That decision made it much easier to learn about my camera. Editing in the camera is pretty complex and it takes a lot of learning and practice to make it work. I don't use it at all.

Here's what I do...

I keep all of the Nikon images on a 1 TB stand alone hard drive that I bought for this purpose alone. That HD is called the "Passport."

I dump the JPEG images from the camera chip into a file on that Passport HD labeled "New, Unworked Pictures."

The HP Program comes up and I load the unworked Passport file into it.

After correcting exposure or color issues, each one gets a unique file name and a date. I use copy/paste to get the name on each file then come back to give it a number in the series. A typical file name is JAKE 1 7-19-2015.

I type the first name then copy/paste to the rest of them. The only part of the name that is actually typed in is the Picture number: 1,2,3 etc which I come back later to change.

The date is important so if one picture is named "Flower 1", that name can never be used again. With the date, Flower 1 7-20-2015, Flower 1 7-21-2015. Flower 1 7-22-2015 can all be used.

All of the "worked" pics are saved to the Passport drive open space (outside of any files) then I can pick and slide each picture into a relevant file folder on the Passport like "JAKE PICTURES, HOUSE PICTURES, MOTORCYCLE PICTURES, ETC."

52 pictures took about 1/2 hour to process last night. It's very simple to do and if a picture doesn't suit me,......... "delete". Copy/paste makes it easy!

Flash

 

[Army 1911]

Been thinking about taking an adult education class about photography and image composition at the college where I worked. I love to learn new things and I'm ready to start digging into this.

Flash

My favorite quote on composition was written by Edward Weston in an essay during the 1940s. Published in an encyclopedia type magazine (I have forgotten the name). It goes, "Consulting the rules of composition before making a photograph is like consulting the laws of gravitation before going for a walk." He went on to say that the rules were applied after the photograph was made. The name of the essay was "Seeing Photographically."

Weston was one of true masters of photography, along with Adams, Stiechen, Russell Lee and others. My wife's first photography experience was in Russell Lee's class at UT in the 60s. She went on to teach photography at a university in Kansas.

 

[ROGER4314]

Interesting!

I never understood the "Rule of Thirds" in composition. Some day I will. That's the kind of thing that I want to know.

I have the photographer's mind set that searches for proper depth of field, backlighting, fill flash and remain conscious about what the camera is actually metering on. I still want to know what makes a GREAT picture stand out from a good picture.

If you go to my profile album, there is a picture of me at the dock waiting to go over to Alcatraz. That is a GREAT shot and my lady (Mary) took my Pentax K-1000 and grabbed that image. How did she do that? How did that happen and how can I make it happen again?

Flash

 

[texas skeeter]

That was a good looking life history album Flash. It only proves that in fact YES you are an Old Buzzard!! When we going shooting?

 

[mitchntx]

I do all of my editing on an HP program that I've used for years. The new Nikon program looks promising, too.

I HIGHLY recommend a program called Irfanview.
Its freeware and is packed with time saving features like batch processing.

For instance, you could take all the photos from the SD card, color correct, rename, resize, resample and resave on "passport" in one pass.

Set up the parameters, select the files you want them applied to, select the target and go get a cup of coffee.

 

[benenglish]

The delay does take a while to get used to.

I come from the generation of photographers who used to wax poetic about the feel of a Leica shutter release in the same way that PPC shooters write odes of joy to impossibly-lightweight, oiled-glass-smooth double-action revolver triggers. I always used to feel slightly second-class with my lowly Nikons - F1, Nikkorex, and many, many more over the years, up to the F5 and D40, with many side trips into other brands and larger formats.

I've given it a good run with thousands of pictures through several autofocus and digital cameras. I conclude that that muscle memory will never go away.

Shutter lag is something to which I will simply never adapt.