I do photography. If you've got questions, post em!

[tennisWalt Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tennisWalt]

Questions about Maui North Shore Picture.

Maui North Shore



Dragon's Teeth Maui




I've taken many pictures of Kahakuloa Head on the North Shore of Maui and the pictures always seem to be washed out.

The Dragon's Teeth pictures was taken with the same Camera.

Any ideas?

Walt

[Booshanky Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Booshanky]

Maui North Shore

This photo just seems like it's not got enough contrast. I'd suggest running an unsharp mask at 50, 250, and 0. Should clear it up a bit. Make it pop.

Dragon's Teeth Maui




I've taken many pictures of Kahakuloa Head on the North Shore of Maui and the pictures always seem to be washed out.

The Dragon's Teeth pictures was taken with the same Camera.

Any ideas?

Walt

If your camera is set on Auto, you're going to come out with different looking photos nearly every time. If you want to really get into the nitty gritty of what specific settings need to be changed to get the photo the way you want, it's good to shoot fully in manual.

What kind of camera are you using?

[Booshanky Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Booshanky]

A few pics I took from SF.

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

Disclaimer: I'm a Canon guy.

Since you are a Canon guy, would you mind sharing your opinion on equipment?

My situation: For my trip to Italy in September, I am wondering if I should obtain another lens. We enjoy visiting historical places, and would like to capture shots of architecture, both inside and outside shots.

My current equipment:
Canon Digital Rebel XTi camera
EF 24-105mm F/4L IS USM lens
EF 70-200mm F/4L USM lens

I use the 24-105 as my general-purpose lens. Great clarity, very versatile. The 70-200 is used mostly for my daughters outdoor soccer and baseball games. I would not consider taking that lens to Italy.

I have been looking at the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens. My thought is that it would be a better lens for capturing shots that I would most likely be taking in Italy. Wider-angle shots, lower-light shots, etc. But I am not sure if it will be worth it vs. using my 24-105 lens.

The downsides of the 17-55 lens is that it is not an L-series lens (although it shares the L-Series UD lens elements), and it is an EF-S lens that could not be used on a full-frame body (but very unlikely that I would move to that anytime in the near future). However, the reviews of the lens have been quite favorable.

Any suggestions or thoughts on my situation? I am not opposed to buying another $1K lens, if I would make good use of it.

Kurt

[tennisWalt Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tennisWalt]

Point and Shoot Now

I have several 35mm SLR Camera that I used on past trip. Over the years I got away from carrying a heavy camera around and I went to smaller light weight cameras. I just about always carry my Canon Power shot SD600 with me at all times. I just upgraded a Kodak DX6480 for a Panasonic DMC TZ5.

Check out the Oahu Pictures I took with the Canon and the Kodak

Slideshow of pictures, photos, and videos, from webshots

I took the Maui Pictures with mostly the Panasonic and some with the Canon.

Slideshow of pictures, photos, and videos, from webshots

I do use the Auto all the time.

Walt

[gophish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close gophish]

Hi Kurt,
I'm not a Canon guy, I shoot Nikon, but lenses are lenses so I'll give you my two cents worth.
Where you will gain with the lens you are thinking about is at the low end (wide angle). The lens you have is a 24 and with the 1.5 crop factor your shots look as tho they were shot at about 36mm. The 17mm lens will look like a 25mm so that will give you somewhat more wide angle for landscape shooting. You will also gain with the f2.8 for indoors and not so bright days and also just generally having a faster lens.
The one thing to think about is that on a trip like that you probably won't be carrying around an extra lens much so think about the photos you tend to take while traveling and decide if you will miss the telephoto of the 105mm.
When we went to Italy a couple years ago I brought 2 or three lenses but ended up carrying just my 18-55 most of the time. If you have a teleconverter you could carry that since they are small and then boost the 55 side of that lens to almost 80mm when needed. If you use a 1.4 converter you loose a stop but outside that is not bad.
I brought my 1.4 converter and did carry it a few times but to be honest didn't use it much.
Hope this is helpful.

Since you are a Canon guy, would you mind sharing your opinion on equipment?

My situation: For my trip to Italy in September, I am wondering if I should obtain another lens. We enjoy visiting historical places, and would like to capture shots of architecture, both inside and outside shots.

My current equipment:
Canon Digital Rebel XTi camera
EF 24-105mm F/4L IS USM lens
EF 70-200mm F/4L USM lens

I use the 24-105 as my general-purpose lens. Great clarity, very versatile. The 70-200 is used mostly for my daughters outdoor soccer and baseball games. I would not consider taking that lens to Italy.

I have been looking at the Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM lens. My thought is that it would be a better lens for capturing shots that I would most likely be taking in Italy. Wider-angle shots, lower-light shots, etc. But I am not sure if it will be worth it vs. using my 24-105 lens.

The downsides of the 17-55 lens is that it is not an L-series lens (although it shares the L-Series UD lens elements), and it is an EF-S lens that could not be used on a full-frame body (but very unlikely that I would move to that anytime in the near future). However, the reviews of the lens have been quite favorable.

Any suggestions or thoughts on my situation? I am not opposed to buying another $1K lens, if I would make good use of it.

Kurt

[gophish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close gophish]

Walt, Nice photos. Hawaii is a great place for people who like photography, no matter what camera you use.
I know what you mean about giving up the heavy cameras, I have been tempted many times while traveling to get something I can put in my shirt pocket, they take such great pictures. I'm not quite ready to give up my DSLR yet but I may get something smaller to have on trips.

I have several 35mm SLR Camera that I used on past trip. Over the years I got away from carrying a heavy camera around and I went to smaller light weight cameras. I just about always carry my Canon Power shot SD600 with me at all times. I just upgraded a Kodak DX6480 for a Panasonic DMC TZ5.

Check out the Oahu Pictures I took with the Canon and the Kodak

Slideshow of pictures, photos, and videos, from webshots

I took the Maui Pictures with mostly the Panasonic and some with the Canon.

Slideshow of pictures, photos, and videos, from webshots

I do use the Auto all the time.

Walt

[dougp26364 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dougp26364]

Walt, Nice photos. Hawaii is a great place for people who like photography, no matter what camera you use.
I know what you mean about giving up the heavy cameras, I have been tempted many times while traveling to get something I can put in my shirt pocket, they take such great pictures. I'm not quite ready to give up my DSLR yet but I may get something smaller to have on trips.

I tend to travel with both. Cannon makes some very nice slim point and shoot camera's that are very easy to carry anywhere. There are some days I just don't want to pack the larger camera bag and then there are times having to much stuff just isn't functional. There are also places we'll go that I don't want to make myself out to be a "target" and it's nicer to have something easily conceled or something that wouldn't hurt to have lost, stolen or destroyed.

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

Hope this is helpful.

Very helpful, thanks! I think it would really help if I could borrow a 17-55 (or similar range) lens from someone for a few days just to get a feel for the range that the lens would provide. I'm sure one of my Canon buddies at work have a kit lens like that.

I am fairly new to the DSLR world, as I have only had my current equipment for less than two years. Before that, I was always a point-n-shoot guy, so I do understand the big trade-offs of carrying a large setup vs. something that you can slip into a pocket. However, I have really been impressed with the amazing pictures that one can get from a DSLR and a good lens. It really shows up when you do some editing and can crop away 75% of the picture and still end up w/ a crystal-clear picture.

Kurt

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

The 24-105 is a great lens, but on the Rebel it does have the effective field of view of a 38mm so it's not really a decent wide angle lens in that situation.
If you are visiting cities a wider lens will have huge benefits even if it doesn't have the quality of the 24-105. My wife has the 18-55 IS kit lens on her 450D and that produces great results for the sort of thing she wants i.e. rarely bigger than 7x5, occasional 10x8s.
We also compromise by taking a decent digital compact for the times when we don't want to lug the 'proper' cameras. The Canon Powershot 720IS is the camera of choice then.

[WanderLust Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close WanderLust]

Very helpful, thanks! I think it would really help if I could borrow a 17-55 (or similar range) lens from someone for a few days just to get a feel for the range that the lens would provide. I'm sure one of my Canon buddies at work have a kit lens like that.

I am fairly new to the DSLR world, as I have only had my current equipment for less than two years. Before that, I was always a point-n-shoot guy, so I do understand the big trade-offs of carrying a large setup vs. something that you can slip into a pocket. However, I have really been impressed with the amazing pictures that one can get from a DSLR and a good lens. It really shows up when you do some editing and can crop away 75% of the picture and still end up w/ a crystal-clear picture.

Kurt

If no friends or family have the lens for you to try out, you may want to try renting the lens for a day. Most major cities have outlets that specialize in renting camera equipment for the day, week, etc.

[Ryne08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryne08]

Evemtually, when I've had enough time with my new Nikon D40 to be smart enough to ask questions, I'll probably be asking. Right now I'm still exploring the camera and it's settings to see what works for me and what doesn't.

Doug, the Nikon D40 takes some very pictures. I own this camera.

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

If no friends or family have the lens for you to try out, you may want to try renting the lens for a day. Most major cities have outlets that specialize in renting camera equipment for the day, week, etc.

Another option that I may consider is to rent the lens I mentioned for the trip in September. I saw one place where the 3-week rental rate was about $150. The lens goes for about $1000 to buy, give or take.

Kurt