D200 shots in Cambridge
Discussion
Blimey, that looks quiet for Cambridge!
Did you do any post processing? The D200 seems to benefit from a bit more sharpening than the D70 in post processing - I think the anti-aliasing filter is a bit different in the D200. My sons got a D200 and I'm hoping to catch him up soon...
Jonathan
Did you do any post processing? The D200 seems to benefit from a bit more sharpening than the D70 in post processing - I think the anti-aliasing filter is a bit different in the D200. My sons got a D200 and I'm hoping to catch him up soon...
Jonathan
I was thinking that too actually.
I've had them all through raw shooter and just tweaked one or 2 settings but nothing else.
Its a sigma 18-50 f2.8 aswell so I too was expecting them to be sharper.
I wonder if its just camera shake.
My hands have never been that steady and the light was very poor. All shots are at 1/6oth or less.
Bit dissapointed with it all tbh. I was expecting that the D200 and sigma lens would be a lovely step up the sharpness and quality ladder for me. The D70 seems as good!
Greg
I've had them all through raw shooter and just tweaked one or 2 settings but nothing else.
Its a sigma 18-50 f2.8 aswell so I too was expecting them to be sharper.
I wonder if its just camera shake.
My hands have never been that steady and the light was very poor. All shots are at 1/6oth or less.
Bit dissapointed with it all tbh. I was expecting that the D200 and sigma lens would be a lovely step up the sharpness and quality ladder for me. The D70 seems as good!
Greg
V6GTO said:
What's the 80-400 like on the 200?
Martin.
Martin.
I don't have an 80-200 Martin!
I do have an 70-200 f2.8 but I'm scared to use it incase its still rubbish!!
Think I need to meet up with some other owners for a test and teaching session. Just incase I'm doing something silly. (more likely than my kit being duff)
G
Greg,
As you were using the 70-200 at 1/60th or less did you have the lens stopped down for increased DoF, if so in such poor light try using a tripod and remote release to compare whether it was you not being able to hold it steady enough. Then try taking photos at f2.8 in auto and note the speed the camera sets to. Also try hand held at the same settings to check your steadiness. Another thought is how you have your metering set up, try spot metering on a single subject rather than multimetered shots.
It is all part of the fun of photography at least now you see the results instantly and in inceredible detail on your PC whereas previously we had all the palaver of developing film and printing Photos and sticking them on the tiles in the bathroom to dry, then having to iron them to take out the curl in the paper
I might also be talking a load of cr-p as I have not yet got into DSLRs
Ray
As you were using the 70-200 at 1/60th or less did you have the lens stopped down for increased DoF, if so in such poor light try using a tripod and remote release to compare whether it was you not being able to hold it steady enough. Then try taking photos at f2.8 in auto and note the speed the camera sets to. Also try hand held at the same settings to check your steadiness. Another thought is how you have your metering set up, try spot metering on a single subject rather than multimetered shots.
It is all part of the fun of photography at least now you see the results instantly and in inceredible detail on your PC whereas previously we had all the palaver of developing film and printing Photos and sticking them on the tiles in the bathroom to dry, then having to iron them to take out the curl in the paper
I might also be talking a load of cr-p as I have not yet got into DSLRs
Ray
Hi Greg,
Don't panic on the D200 - its a different beast from the D70 and just needs handling a little different to get the best out of it. Between my son Tom and myself we've got the D50,70 and 200, and the D200 is clearly the best (its my 15yr old sons camera but I'm hoping to upgrade my D70 before too long...).
Thats an idea! We're in Linton. Let me know if you would like to meet up sometime, it would be great to swap ideas.
Jonathan
Don't panic on the D200 - its a different beast from the D70 and just needs handling a little different to get the best out of it. Between my son Tom and myself we've got the D50,70 and 200, and the D200 is clearly the best (its my 15yr old sons camera but I'm hoping to upgrade my D70 before too long...).
mr noble said:
Think I need to meet up with some other owners for a test and teaching session.
Thats an idea! We're in Linton. Let me know if you would like to meet up sometime, it would be great to swap ideas.
Jonathan
Greg, the new camera/lens combo should be a huge step up from your previous kit. What are the results like if you use the camera under better conditions?
One thing I notice is that these have been pretty heavily crunched by whatever image editing software you use. I aim to get all my images to 100KB for posting on the web - yours are more like 30-40KB.
Very simple workflow for posting pictures is resize, sharpen, save at 100KB.
One thing I notice is that these have been pretty heavily crunched by whatever image editing software you use. I aim to get all my images to 100KB for posting on the web - yours are more like 30-40KB.
Very simple workflow for posting pictures is resize, sharpen, save at 100KB.
Hi,
I'm Jonathan's son, the one with the d200, thought I would try and help, if anything I say is obvious to you, I don't mean to offend, I don't know how serous you are about photography.
Firstly, I'm not sure why you got the sigma? the 18-70mm is surprisingly good, and from what I have heard the sigma only becomes sharp at about f4. Were you using it wide open? Try the d200 with your 18-70mm, and on a tripod if possible, and see what happens. Also, try the sigma at various apertures. I maybe wrong about it. Remember sigma have awful quality control issues, so you could have got a bad copy.
The d200 is much more unforgiving than the lower models (I used to use a d50). If you are shooting in raw, it will not actually apply any sharpening at all, and therefore expects you to do a lot more pp. I would not even consider using raw images almost straight out of a d200 (if your not going to bother with any pp, don't shoot raw). Also, the greater resolution will show up more faults, though this shouldn't show over the web as long as you are resizing ok.
A 60th of a second is probably to slow as well, even at that focal length, for me anyway. You could have got away with iso 400 - 600, as long as you exposed to the right.
In my experience, a new camera will not necessarily improve your pictures, unless its complimented by a decent lens and a focused photographer.
good luck,
Tom.
I'm Jonathan's son, the one with the d200, thought I would try and help, if anything I say is obvious to you, I don't mean to offend, I don't know how serous you are about photography.
Firstly, I'm not sure why you got the sigma? the 18-70mm is surprisingly good, and from what I have heard the sigma only becomes sharp at about f4. Were you using it wide open? Try the d200 with your 18-70mm, and on a tripod if possible, and see what happens. Also, try the sigma at various apertures. I maybe wrong about it. Remember sigma have awful quality control issues, so you could have got a bad copy.
The d200 is much more unforgiving than the lower models (I used to use a d50). If you are shooting in raw, it will not actually apply any sharpening at all, and therefore expects you to do a lot more pp. I would not even consider using raw images almost straight out of a d200 (if your not going to bother with any pp, don't shoot raw). Also, the greater resolution will show up more faults, though this shouldn't show over the web as long as you are resizing ok.
A 60th of a second is probably to slow as well, even at that focal length, for me anyway. You could have got away with iso 400 - 600, as long as you exposed to the right.
In my experience, a new camera will not necessarily improve your pictures, unless its complimented by a decent lens and a focused photographer.
good luck,
Tom.
Edited by Tom Perkins on Monday 1st January 23:35
Thanks for all the comments gents. I agree entirely.
I was wondering just this morning, if I actually used to enjoy this hobby more when the only kit I had was a Canon AE1 and a 50mm f1.4. I used to shoot lots of b/w and process it myself at school. It was almost more exciting not knowing how the shots were going to come out.
I will need to have a serious play soon with the tripod and good light.
I'm in Cambridge, so meeting up for a chat and play with kit would be great. I'm very willing to be taught some more lessons.
Regards,
Greg
I was wondering just this morning, if I actually used to enjoy this hobby more when the only kit I had was a Canon AE1 and a 50mm f1.4. I used to shoot lots of b/w and process it myself at school. It was almost more exciting not knowing how the shots were going to come out.
I will need to have a serious play soon with the tripod and good light.
I'm in Cambridge, so meeting up for a chat and play with kit would be great. I'm very willing to be taught some more lessons.
Regards,
Greg
Interestingly enough my experience was that I was never happy with the results I got from my kit until I got the D200. Now I know if I get a bad shot it's because of me, and not because my D70 + 18/70 combo was a bit hit and miss.
One of the biggest benefits of the D200 I find is how close you can zoom in on the LCD. It's very useful for checking if an image is sharp, because most look fine squashed into the screen.
Personally I don't find when shooting RAW that I need any more sharpening than jpeg - but a bit of sharpening is a must. There is no point sharpening in the RAW processing stage though if you plan to resize the images for the web. Apply sharpening last thing.
One of the biggest benefits of the D200 I find is how close you can zoom in on the LCD. It's very useful for checking if an image is sharp, because most look fine squashed into the screen.
Personally I don't find when shooting RAW that I need any more sharpening than jpeg - but a bit of sharpening is a must. There is no point sharpening in the RAW processing stage though if you plan to resize the images for the web. Apply sharpening last thing.
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