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I need some advice

T

tokengirl

Guest
You are right, they are not in the same league. The M8 sure makes people look a lot cuter. :D

Woody, you don't want to hear this, but the last work of that type that I did that really, really liked was taken with the

M8 & 50 Lux:






>>>


Now I've replaced it with the GF1. Clearly not in the same league, but it gets the job done for me -- and you were there right after I made the switch ;):



 

Paratom

Well-known member
Marc,

you are right - I did not carefully read the first post.
Answering the first post I would say for action, and events a camera should a) offer fast and accurate AF and b) good high ISO.
That would be Nikon for me, yes with either the 24-70/2.8 or with 1-3 fast zoom(s), like 24/1.4, 50/1.4 and or a 85 or 105 (I still insist the DC lenses are great lenses to photograph people and kids)

The other thing is that often things start out with a body and 1 lens but after some time there might come wishes to also be able to do other things, for example to use a T/S lens. In this regard I think its nice to have the option later on.

For running kids I am now a big fan of the 70-200/2.8VR - also a big lens but its the best fast AF telezoom lens I have experienced so far.

So I stay with my opinion that even though I would give the slight edge to Sony for the beautiful tonality and color I often see in posted images that Nikon is the more flexible system and specially for action the AF and high ISO should be a benefit.









I'm confused. This went from "a Canon body and 50/1.2" to an entire system with huge 200/1.8 AFS VR and stuff like that?

You need lenses like that to shoot an event, and precocious kids like another hole in your noggin. :ROTFL:

Not enough lens choices in the Sony system? Get real. More than enough to shoot what Woody is after, and then some. Sony is missing T/S optics and that's about it. Personally, I've never seen a need to shoot running Grand Kids with a $2,500 T/S manual focus lens ... but hey, maybe that's just me. ;)

Nikon 100/2 or 135/2? What? Old Nikon "snail paced" AF with paper thin DOF?

I swapped over from Nikon to Sony for weddings because IMO 1) the Zeiss lenses and their incredible micro contrast and 3D focus fall off 2) the best color right out of the camera due to the mid-range tonal skew and sacrifice of super high ISOs ... no small issue when slogging through 500 to 800 wedding images.

Question is, do you shoot that much at a crack, and how much of it is converted to B&W?

I'll stick with my org. reco: D700 and a Nano Coated AFS 24-70/2.8. Nikon has their zooms (14-24, 24-70, 70-200) in order now, and IMO they beat the snot out of the aging Canon equivalents. I'm talking near prime lens IQ territory here. Also, on the D3 or D700 they produce the best B&W conversions with the least amount of effort bar none ... including the Canons and Sonys.

Here are a few with the D700 and D3 (basically the same camera including AF accuracy and speed in my experience ... except the D700 is small and promotes "take with"). The New Year's "Balloon" image was the D700 done one handed over the shoulder of a guest as a Hail Mary shot. The "Bouquet Beat Down" tryptic shows the swift AF abilities of the Nikon.

The guy "admiring the feminine landscape" was the Sony A900 ... which focuses fine and gets the decisive moment shots when commanded to do so :thumbup:

-Marc
 

PeterA

Well-known member
I switched from Canon to Nikon D3 a while back and have never regretted the move. I miss the 85/1.2L and nothing else. I dont trust autofocus on any of the systems shooting wide open on moving targets. better is a little flash unit - by far and then you might just stay with the Leica..since getting my M9 ..everything else is just a paper weight..

just a thought.
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
I'm confused. This went from "a Canon body and 50/1.2" to an entire system with huge 200/1.8 AFS VR and stuff like that?

You need lenses like that to shoot an event, and precocious kids like another hole in your noggin. :ROTFL:

Not enough lens choices in the Sony system? Get real. More than enough to shoot what Woody is after, and then some. Sony is missing T/S optics and that's about it. Personally, I've never seen a need to shoot running Grand Kids with a $2,500 T/S manual focus lens ... but hey, maybe that's just me. ;)

Nikon 100/2 or 135/2? What? Old Nikon "snail paced" AF with paper thin DOF?

I swapped over from Nikon to Sony for weddings because IMO 1) the Zeiss lenses and their incredible micro contrast and 3D focus fall off 2) the best color right out of the camera due to the mid-range tonal skew and sacrifice of super high ISOs ... no small issue when slogging through 500 to 800 wedding images.

Question is, do you shoot that much at a crack, and how much of it is converted to B&W?

I'll stick with my org. reco: D700 and a Nano Coated AFS 24-70/2.8. Nikon has their zooms (14-24, 24-70, 70-200) in order now, and IMO they beat the snot out of the aging Canon equivalents. I'm talking near prime lens IQ territory here. Also, on the D3 or D700 they produce the best B&W conversions with the least amount of effort bar none ... including the Canons and Sonys.

Here are a few with the D700 and D3 (basically the same camera including AF accuracy and speed in my experience ... except the D700 is small and promotes "take with"). The New Year's "Balloon" image was the D700 done one handed over the shoulder of a guest as a Hail Mary shot. The "Bouquet Beat Down" tryptic shows the swift AF abilities of the Nikon.

The guy "admiring the feminine landscape" was the Sony A900 ... which focuses fine and gets the decisive moment shots when commanded to do so :thumbup:

-Marc
Great looking parties!!
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
I've managed to borrow a Sony kit and rent a D700 kit so I'm doing a personal shoot-out over the weekend. Have an engagement party tonight that I'll take the D700 to.
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
So I made a choice. I'll let you guess what the camera and lens are from the 20 images in the following posts. The first outing to shoot an event was a disaster, with typical problems that you have with a new camera. Second outing was better. The following are from my third outing, last night. I think I have most of the issues sorted at this point. Keeper ratio (from a technical standpoint) was about 60% - not bad given the very poor lighting. With what I learned last night I may get it to 80%. Anyway, the images follow.
 

Woody Campbell

Workshop Member
Focus is actually more consistent than the samples suggest - I'm still experimenting and one of the approaches I used last night seems to work better than the others.

This really seems to be going in the direction that I had hoped when I started this thread.

Thanks to all for your help (particularly John Milich who lent me his A900).
 
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