I propose to discuss here different photo cameras and different techniques used to make photos as well as what are good what photography is about and which subjects are good or not so good for photography and why.


This thread has originated from here

For starter here is good tutorial about digital photography

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm

Me no digital....  yet.
Won't be next year either.

Got a Canon EOS 50E... (SLR)
EF 50mm f/1.4 lens
EF 20-35mm f/1:3.5-4.5 lens

both lenses digi compatible

Yep, I think next year will be a good time for me to update my digital.
I've held off for a long while because I have an underwater housing which goes with the old Olympus.
I'm hoping to get a digital SLR and housing for less than 2K. That should hopefully last me a good ten years.
I'll check out your link for some reviews tallo.

As for film cameras, I don't know why anyone would bother with them these days. i

$5!!!   Surely you jest?

Do I hear $6?

Rather than sell it cheap, I'd prefer to give it away to somebody who is serious about whetting their appetite for underwater photography.
I know it's cliche' -  but I think it's far more gratifying than hunting with a spear.

Yes Tallo, I think people get carried away with the assumption that more Megapixels will always mean better.
I have a few cameras, and have photos taken with my old Fuji S5000, which is 3 Megapixels, that compare favourably against those taken with my Canon EOS 350D, which is 8 Megapixels.
Even my Canon Ixus 7.0, which is a compact automatic, can take a great picture.

Many people just want the latest and greatest, so many bargains can be found amongst second hand cameras which people are upgrading from to get more megapixels, but so long as it has a decent lens and processor, anything 3Megapixels upwards is capable of taking great shots, and can be got at very cheap prices.

I have one photo, which I use as the desktop background on my daughters laptop, which I took with the fuji, at 1 Megapixel, it was taken with telephoto lens, and uv filter on, and is of a meerkat at the zoo, eating wildflowers, the detail and definition is great, and I used the 1 meg setting just to see what sort of quality I could get at that setting, and it was surprisingly good.
I know the EOS will still cost hundreds to buy second hand, but something like my fuji could be bought for well under a hundred bucks, and many have the lens and filter kits with them like mine.

So if you want a SLR that is cheap and good, do a little research and you will find some absolute bargains.

Yes the 5D is one of the cameras I've considered in the digi range.  I'll be sticking to Canon since I can still use the lenses and I prefer though the size of the 35mm SLR units.  (Got big hands)

What about putting photos on here, is it allowed.

And can I get am image uploaded to make an avatar. I tried before, but is seemd I could only use an offsite image.

Anyone know???

If you want to upload a lot of photos, or to repost them frequently, this may make it easier:

http://www.ozpolitic.com/cgi-bin/album.pl

There is a photo upload button below where you type in your post.

MS Paint is easy. It's in your accessories. Go to IMAGE -> STRETCH/SKEW.

I also downloaded some free software to do batch resizing of any number of photos.

Lol FD, yeah I think I'm lacking a bit of Jewish blood in me somewhere. If you've seen "Bad Santa", that little black dude negotiated a better deal. But there's method in my madness.

Like Mozz said, more MP's doesn't mean better quality. The lense is extremely important, and the Olympus range of 20-20 and up cameras have very good quality lenses.
An abundance of MP's with a cheap quality lense would be like listening to an all powerful stereo system with a bottom of the range set of speakers.

The reason I think that now or any time in the future is a good time to upgrade to a high quality digital is because the digital definition has now reached SLR film quality for a reasonable price. Above about 8MP's, there'd be no real discernable difference to a 100MP camera of the same specs., unless it's blown up to billboard size.
So IMO, the main qualitiy to look for in a digital camera  nowadays is the lense - and to put it into sound quality terms, the amplifier is equally important.

Tallo, the housing I have is pretting similar to this one http://www.olympus.com.au/component/option,com_product/id,299/task,detail/Itemid...
Mine is only rated to 30m, but I've had it down to 45m and the only problem I encountered was that the buttons stick down when pressed. The housing always gives a bit of a creak at 17m which has become a signal to me that everything is working OK.
I have some pics that I put up on Photobucket a few years ago. Most of them were taken with an Olympus 20-20 before I got a cheap upgrade to the 30-30.
I haven't really bothered to organise it and update it with my later pics. I tried using the slideshow, but it seems to skip a lot of photos.
I think this link will work.
http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/scubadog812/

If it does work, then click on "diving pix". This is my alter ego "Scubadog", or more correctly, "Amadd" is my alter ego.

So whatdoya think FD?
I know I drive a hard bargain, but if I upgrade to a new kit, will you take my old one?ii

Also, very nice photos. Where do you dive?

TY easel.
The deeper blue pics are at a deeper depth where only the blue light spectrum remains.
Usually it's not worth taking the camera down past about about 30m because there's not much colour without a good strobe...and of course there's the risk of ruining the camera.
The pics are from the Barrier Reef, Similan Islands off Thailand and Burma, NSW, and a lot from around Victoria.
I have some from S.A. somewhere too which were a bit different. I don't know why I didn't put them in. Maybe  it was something to do with the Adelaide Crows.

Sure Amadd, I'd love it. Send me a PM if you're serious.

Great photos. The cuttlefish ones are my favourite. I had one of those disposable analog underwater cameras once, but the photos weren't that great. I think the vis wasn't good enough.

Bad Santa is a top movie, but I can't remember the little black guy.

Here is another chance photo

River Eagle dropped his fish in shallow water and was trying to recover it on foot and wasn't happy for me to come close to see.
I've seen it happens many times when they dive and grab a big mallet.
River wild life is fascinating but it's steadily disappearing, people in BS already have no idea what it is,  that is why it is  good subject for photography to document.

Tallo, where does the river eagle live?

The scariest dive I ever had was in Raboul Harbour in New Britain. I and buddy went down 49 meters to ww2 jap's tanker and entered into the cargo bay through the bombed hole in what used to be upper deck. We had 3 minutes max to stay there and minor earthquake started when we got in. Everything moved and silt floated up so we became blind and it took us 5-7 minutes to get out. But thankfully diving master was on the ball and lowered extra tank of air along the life line so we were able to do unplanned decompression stage.

Here is another "chance" picture

Hi. I am a new member. I've only recently started learning how to use a DSLR, but have enjoyed editing photos for a while now, just learning as I go along.

I like to take photos of things in the garden, or abstracts. I also like to do strange things to photos when editing to see what they will look like.

I did get a photo of the smiley moon, but I haven't uploaded it yet. I used a telephoto lens on a long exposure, but there is some blur as I didn't have a tripod. Oh, the camera is a Canon 400D.

I can't post a link to my photos yet until I have more posts.

It looks pretty sad, for a smiley. Welcome to OzPolitic.

Full moon above town clock taken with olympus m720sw.

Ok Here's the Dawson River - a good place to catch inedible fish.

[url=http://www.dawsonvalley.net/dawson.jpg]

[img]http://www.dawsonvalley.net/dawsonsm.jpg[/img][/url]

and this one shows Isla Gorge:
[url=http://www.dawsonvalley.net/isla.jpg]

[img]http://www.dawsonvalley.net/islasm.jpg[/img][/url]

A good old fashioned tug o' war at a Country Show:

[url=http://www.dawsonvalley.net/gallery/DSC01137.jpg]

[img]http://www.ozpolitic.com/yabbfiles/Attachments/thumb.jpg[/img][/url]

tallowood wrote on Dec 18^th, 2008 at 4:18pm:

I see bottle trees every day. I'll try to remember to photograph them.

My comment re inedible fish is basically the fact that they are freshwater, and I've never been able to eat freshwater fish 

I know the places you mention very well. I remember a few years back when I worked for an Environmental consulting company. We were tendering for some groundwater work in the area, but all kinds of other tenders, including pest control were being explained to the audience in one hit.

One guy who represented a pest control company asked "Do you have many problems with ferals around here ?"

The company representative piped up very quickly "No, they're all up at Mount Morgan"

It got everybody in hysterics. You'll probably understand the joke.

tallowood wrote on Dec 18^th, 2008 at 9:28pm:


Fossilised wood is common. You can look in some of the local creeks after a big rain and find whole fossilised tree trunks. I took one home once and got it sawn through the middle with a diamond saw. I'll take a picture of that later today. I've been threatened with divorce if I take any more home. 

Thunder eggs - yeah Mount Hay on the Capricorn Highway is the place for those, but there are many other places. If you're into geology, you'll probably remember Mt Scoria near Theodore. Hit a rock and the whole mountain (hill) resonates. During a thunderstorm, some of the noises it gives off are quite incredible. I should make a recording some day and use it as a backing for some grunge/alternative  type music.

I'll be in Adelaide until Jan 3, so you won't hear much from me, but when I get back, I'll get into it.

OK, here are a few that I took on the way home. First two are Bottle trees. (Right click and select view image (on Firefox) to see full image)

Callide Street Biloela.

How was your holiday, Tallowood? From what I saw from 30,000 feet, the major river systems in the Southern states look pretty green.

Nice bunch of pics amadd/scubadog.. your dives sound exciting.

muso wrote on Jan 8^th, 2009 at 12:05pm:



"best ever" (c) Antonio 

Weather is still great so I go kayaking any time I can.

Ammad, I have to find time to sort and organised my pictures so it will be awhile, may be when rain settles in.

How were your holidays?

muso wrote on Jan 21^st, 2009 at 7:56am:


Thanks muso, I think that's the hotel in MM I mentioned somewhere above.

What had happened to Renaissance Gold mine? They used to have really poisoned pond there.

muso wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2009 at 9:43am:


Is razorback old main road from MM to Rockhampton? That road was one of the most dangerous main roads I've seen in Australia especially when huge semi-trailers were going down towards you and they could not stop and there was not much space to let them pass.

I have heard that they build a new better way.

I have found some of my old photos of the area but need a scanner to digitise them.

Isn't Street view wonderful? The road has improved a lot in recent years but it's still very steep and winding.